NEWTON, Mass. – Senior Scott Arsenault (Walpole, Mass.) drained a pivotal three-pointer with 18 seconds remaining Thursday evening and Lasell College held on to defeat the Regis (Mass.) men's basketball team 69-67 in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game at the Lasell Athletic Center.
Arsenault's basket from beyond the arc put the Lasers up by two, and senior Derek McMahon (Hatfield, Mass.) stole the ball with eight seconds remaining on Regis' ensuing possession to seal the win. The victory pushes Lasell to 7-4 in the GNAC (9-11 overall), which is tied for third place, while Regis slides to 7-5 in the GNAC (10-10 overall).
Sophomore Stefan Masciarelli (Northbridge, Mass) led the Lasers with 21 points and nine assists, while Arsenault finished with 16 and seven rebounds and junior Tim Blair (Newington, Conn) chipped in with 11 points.
Freshman Juvens Dalger (Oakland Park, Fla.) made all seven of his shots to finish with a team-high 16 points off the Regis bench. Senior Jawaun Lewis (Jacksonville, Fla.) scored 11 points and classmate Roger Hamel (Huntington Beach, Calif.) added 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
The outcome spoiled a strong comeback by Regis, which trailed by 10 points with 12 minutes remaining. The Pride came back to take the lead three minutes later, and led most of the final nine minutes of the game, but not by more than two points.
The score was tied at 66-all with a minute to go after a Lasell basket by freshman Liam Jacobs (Plainfield, Conn.) Regis junior Jordan Seldon (Dorchester, Mass.) made 1-of-2 free throws with 47 seconds remaining, but Lasell worked the clock down to under 20 seconds when Arsenault made the game-winning basket.
Lasell led the majority of the first half, pulling ahead by 10 points (19-9) midway through the half. Regis whittled the margin down to one point (24-23) with six minutes to go, but the Lasers went back ahead by seven (33-26) three minutes later before settling for a 39-33 advantage at the break.
Arsenault and Blair hit back-to-back threes for Lasell early in the second half to make it a double-digit lead again (47-37) and another Masciarelli hoop gave the Lasers their largest lead of the night, 49-37.
Regis, down 10 points (56-46) with 12:23 on the clock, went on a 13-2 burst to take a 59-58 lead, keyed by nine points by Dalger and four by sophomore Shaun Wingfield (Pembroke Pines, Fla.). The game was a one-possession contest the rest of the way.
Both teams play GNAC games again on Saturday as Lasell visits cross-town rival Mount Ida College at 3:00 p.m. and Regis is on the road at Suffolk University at 1:00 p.m.
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