WESTON, Mass. — In a 2014 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball postseason rematch, Southern Vermont College walked out of Higgins Court Thursday night with a 64-41 win over Regis College in the first league contest of the season for both teams.
SVC improves to 4-2 on the year (1-0 NECC) while Regis falls to 4-3 (0-1 NECC) with the loss.
After leading 35-26 going into the break, Southern Vermont went on a 13-1 run to start the second half and give the Mountaineers a cushion that was too much for the Pride to overcome.
Southern Vermont junior Casey Hall (Albany, New York) posted a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds to go with three blocks to lead the Mountaineers. Classmate DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Connecticut) joined him in double figures with 13 points off the bench while fellow junior William Bromirski (Cambridge, New York) rounded out the scoring with 10 points.
Regis was led by nine points and six rebounds from Sam Jean-Gilles (Melrose, Mass.). Chirs Keaton (Beverly, Mass.) and Ethan Peana (Staten Island, N.Y.) chipped in eight points apiece, while Chris Leak Jr. (New Haven, Conn.) came off the bench to grab five rebounds.
Southern Vermont raced out to an early 10-2 lead as a tip-in by Hall at the 14:01 mark of the opening half forced a Regis timeout. Out of the break, Keaton connected on a deep triple to cut the deficit in half, and the Pride kept it a five-point game minutes later as Leak Jr. tipped home a Hector Heredia (Lawrence, Mass.) miss.
The two teams traded baskets until four-straight free throws by Hamlet pushed the Mountaineer lead to 24-14 with 7:32 to play. Bromirski buried a three to extend the lead to 27-14, but the Pride would not go away as a quick 5-0 spurt by the home team cut the deficit to eight with just over four minutes remaining in the half.
SVC answered with a 4-0 run of its own to go back up by 10, but the Pride chipped away and, with a pair of Jean-Gilles freebies with less than a minute remaining, made it a 33-26 lead Southern Vermont lead. With time running down in the half, Bromirski got off a floater from 14 feet out that found nothing but the bottom of the net, and the Mountaineers took a 35-26 advantage into the break.
Hall led all scorers at halftime with eight points and six rebounds while Jean-Gilles and Keaton paced the Pride attack with six points apiece.
Southern Vermont opened the second half on a 13-0 run to take a commanding 48-26 lead, holding the Pride scoreless for the first eight minutes of the period. Jean-Gilles finally connected on a free throw to end the run before a Peana layup out of a timeout put the deficit back to 48-29.
Jean-Gilles would get Regis within 16 points with a layup at the 7:57 mark, and Jeff Tagger Jr. (Brockton, Mass.) kept it there a minute later with a jumper of his own. But that would be as close as the Pride would get as Southern Vermont held on to start the conference schedule in the win column.
Southern Vermont now gears up to host the sixth annual Tri-State Shootout Tournament this weekend, taking on Vermont Technical College in the first round on Saturday at 1 p.m. Regis next visits Daniel Webster College on Saturday for a 1 p.m. NECC showdown.