WESTON, Mass. - In a defensive battle, Regis College held on to defeat Johnson and Wales University, 58-57, Saturday afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball game at Higgins Court.
Russell Rau (Fitchburg, Mass.) broke the Regis single-season scoring record as he notched his 16th double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Justin Evelyn (Uniondale, N.Y.) tied the Pride career assist record with his 234th career assist to go along with 10 points. Cameron Wilkins (Taunton, Mass.) also finished with 10 points along with seven rebounds and two steals, and Jamir Harvey (Robbins, Ill.) contributed 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Johnson and Wales (7-17, 4-10 GNAC) scored the first six points of the game on consecutive three-pointers by Josh Zangerle, but Rau responded with two three-pointers and Evelyn added a layup to tie the game at 8-8 four minutes into the contest. The Pride scored 13 unanswered points, capped by a Harvey layup on Evelyn's record-tying assist, as they eventually established their largest lead of the game at 22-12 after another three-pointer from Rau.
The Wildcats struck back with eight straight points of their own, capped by a three-pointer from Mike Rogers, to close to within two points at 22-20. As time wound down in the first half, Aireus Raspberry answered a Rau three-pointer with his own long distance basket to bring Johnson and Wales back within two points at halftime, 26-24.
Regis opened the second half with baskets by Rau and Wilkins, but the Wildcats stayed close. Midway through the second half, a jumper by Evelyn extended the Pride lead to 39-34, but JWU quickly rattled off six straight points, punctuated by a layup by Raspberry, to pull ahead, 40-39, with 6:40 remaining in the second half.
A defensive rebound and fast-break layup by Rogers increased the Wildcat lead to 45-42, but baskets by Wilkins and Harvey as well as a traditional three-point play from Wilkins allowed Regis to retake the lead, 49-45. In the final minute of regulation, a traditional three-point play from Raspberry closed the JWU deficit to one point, but Harvey converted a layup to once again make it a three-point game.
On JWU's next possession, Raspberry was fouled and made two free throws. Regis was fouled on its next possession, but missed the front end of the one-and-one, with the ball going out of bounds off the Pride with 2.5 seconds showing on the clock. Raspberry launched a three-point attempt from just beyond halfcourt as the buzzer sounded, but it hit the rim and bounced away.
Raspberry led the Wildcats with 17 points, nine rebounds, and four assists, while Zangerle finished with 14 points and six rebounds and Izaiah Shaw-Glen contributed 10 points and seven rebounds. As a team, JWU shot just 32.7 percent (18-for-55) from the field, including 6-for-14 from behind the three-point line, and 71.4 percent (15-for-21) from the free throw line.
The Pride shot 35.1 percent (20-for-57) from the field and 68.4 percent (13-for-19) from the free throw line. Regis won the rebounding battle, 45-35, including 11 offensive boards leading to eight second chance points while the Wildcats scored only three second chance points on five offensive rebounds.
Before the game, Wilkins and Joshua Perez (Lynn, Mass.) were recognized in the Senior Day presentation.
Regis College (13-12, 8-6 GNAC) is slotted as the seventh seed in the 2024 GNAC Men's Basketball Tournament and will host 10th seed Dean College Monday, Feb. 19, starting at 3:30 p.m. at Higgins Court. On Dec. 2, these teams battled into overtime, with the Bulldogs prevailing over the Pride, 91-90.