Men’s Hoop Pulls Away with Season-Opening Victory

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After a close first half, Regis College made a run to open the second half, saw Skidmore College come back and take the lead with its own run, and then regained the momentum down the stretch as the Pride defeated the Thoroughbreds, 66-59, Monday night in a non-conference men's collegiate basketball game at the Williamson Sports Center.

In his first career collegiate game, Aamyr Sullivan (Middletown, N.Y.) led the Pride with 22 points on 9-for-15 field goal shooting. Both Jamir Harvey (Robbins, Ill.) and Russell Rau (Westminster, Mass.) finished with double-doubles, as Harvey collected 21 points and 12 rebounds and Rau added 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Harvey scored the first five points of the second half as Regis increased a one-point halftime lead to eight points at 31-23. After Harvey made the Pride's only three-pointer of the game three minutes into the period, Skidmore rallied back with nine straight points, punctuated by consecutive jumpers from Hakeem Daphnis to give the Thoroughbreds a 38-36 lead with 13 minutes left in the second half.

Midway through the period, Daphnis hit two three-pointers to extend the Skidmore lead to its largest of the game at 52-44 with 7:30 remaining in regulation. However, the home team would not hit another field goal for seven minutes as the Pride put together an 18-1 scoring stretch to put the game away, led by Sullivan with 10 points.

The first half was choppy, to be expected in an early-season contest, as neither team made a field goal for almost five full minutes after a traditional three-point play from Rau tied the game at 10-10. The Pride pulled ahead on baskets by Rau and Sullivan, with a pull-up jumper by Rau giving Regis a 24-23 advantage heading into halftime.

Skidmore (0-2) was led by Daphnis with 16 points and Aidan Roy with 10 points and four assists. As a team, the Thoroughbreds shot 35.4 percent (23-for-65) from the field, including 6-for-19 from behind the three-point line, and 58.3 percent (7-for-12) from the free throw line.

The Pride shot 35.8 percent (19-for-53) from the field but were able to take advantage of their free throw opportunities, hitting 81.8 percent (27-for-33) of their attempts from the charity stripe. Regis won the rebounding battle, 43-33, and scored 12 points off 10 Skidmore turnovers while allowing just six points off 11 Pride turnovers.

Regis (1-0) opens its home schedule with the Autism Acceptance Classic Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15-16. The Pride will face Fisher College Friday evening starting at 5 p.m. and Bowdoin College Saturday afternoon beginning at 3 p.m.