BENNINGTON, Vt. — Southern Vermont College and Regis College grabbed New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) victories Friday night in the 2015 Conference semifinals, earning the right to play in Saturday's Championship at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
The top-seeded Mountaineers needed overtime to take down No. 4 Becker College in Friday's first semi by a 71-66 tally, and No. 2 Regis then took care of No. 6 Daniel Webster College by a 75-59 final in the nightcap. SVC improves to 23-3 on the season as the Pride bump their record to 17-8 on the year. BC falls to 16-11 while Daniel Webster finishes the season at 11-15 with the losses.
Southern Vermont and Regis will face-off Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. at the Mountaineer Athletic Center for the title. Neither squad has captured an NECC tournament crown in the league's seven-year history.
Southern Vermont 71, Becker 66 (OT)
The night's first game saw SVC take a 10-point lead midway through the first half, only to have Becker come back and tie things up at 30-30 heading into the locker rooms. The second half was close the whole way as neither side could hold enough momentum to put away from the other, and the Hawks narrowly missed stealing the game as BC swiped the ball from the Mountaineers' final possession and just missed a buzzer-beating to win it. In the extra period, SVC was able to make enough free throws down the stretch to seal the win and move on to its first NECC Championship game.
Mountaineer junior William Bromirski (Cambridge, New York) was electric from the floor, going 8-14 with a 6-10 clip from three-point range for a game-best 23 points. Classmate DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Connecticut) followed with 15 points off the SVC bench while senior captain Dolapo Olugbile (Laurel, Maryland) added 13 points and a team-best seven rebounds.
Becker was led by sophomore Kyle Credle (Queens, New York) who dropped 15 points in reserve time while adding four boards and a pair of steals in the effort. Senior captain Donovan Ford-Hayes (Windsor Locks, Connecticut) added 14 points and a team-high three assists, and classmate and captain David Maturah (Windsor Locks, Connecticut) provided 11 points and six rebounds. Junior Rashaun Liggon (Elizabeth, New Jersey) scored nine points to go with his game-best 10 rebounds.
SVC shot 44.2 percent from the floor (23-52) while holding Becker to a 36.9 percent clip (24-65). The Hawks out-rebounded Southern Vermont by a 37-32 margin while the Mountaineers owned a 26-22 edge on points in the paint.
After Becker took to the scoreboard first, Olugbile spotted up from beyond the arc and knocked down a three while being fouled, converting the four-point play for the 4-2 lead. A Becker shot clock violation allowed Bromirski to knock down his first three-pointer, and he followed up with another from deep behind the line to bump the SVC advantage to 10-5. After Maturah hit a jumper, another Bromirski three started a 7-0 Southern Vermont run that gave the hosts their biggest lead of the night (17-7). The Hawks were able to chip away at their deficit, making it 19-14 on a pair of Ford-Hayes free throws.
Southern Vermont once again extended its lead with five unanswered points, and the Mountaineers then led 30-21 with 2:38 to go after a Hamlet layup. That would be the last SVC score of the half, however, and Becker scored the last nine points of the period to send the game to halftime with the score knotted at 30-30. In the final 2:12 of the stanza, Liggon was successful with an and-one play, and junior Jessy Michaud (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) got a layup to go in the waning seconds for the game-tying basket.
Bromirski showed that the 15-minute break would not slow him down as he drilled a three-pointer after SVC forced a Becker turnover on the opening possession of the second half. After the teams swapped scores, the junior knocked down a trey from the right side of the arc, hitting nothing but net to put his team up 38-34. Both sides went cold for a three-minute stretch before Maturah hit a jumper to make it a 39-36 SVC lead. But once again, Bromirski was ready to ignite the crowd and his team as he sunk his fifth three-pointer of the game.
Becker would not be silenced as the Hawks pushed to continue their season, keeping pace with successful trips down the floor. Ford-Hayes swished a 15-footer from the right side of the paint to make it 48-42, and he followed with a fade-away a minute later to cut it to five (49-44). Southern Vermont led by a handful until there was under three minutes to play when BC started to slowly get the game tied back up. Hamlet hit one-of-two free throws, and Ford-Hayes answered with a layup on the ensuing possession to make it a 59-58 Southern Vermont lead.
A Mountaineer flagrant foul with just under a minute to go allowed Ford-Hayes to go to the line for a pair, but he only knocked down the back-end of his trip to the stripe to tie things at 59-59. Becker was granted the ball due to the foul, but Credle would miss a three-point attempt that gave SVC possession for a chance at the last shot. After using its last timeout, Southern Vermont tried to run a final play, only to have the ball stripped by Liggon who was able to corral it and put up a good look as the buzzer sounded; it missed the mark, however, and the game went to the extra session.
Neither side could score on its opening possession of the overtime before SVC junior Jeff James (Bowie, Maryland) drilled a three to put SVC on top. Becker cut it to one on a pair of Credle free throws, but Bromirski extended the lead with his final triple of the night for the 65-61 edge. Southern Vermont was not out of the woods yet as Liggon hit a jumper that was followed by a Ford-Hayed three for BC to pull ahead 66-65. Bromirski then got a floater to go to put his team back in front, and the Hawks would struggle to score the rest of the way. BC missed a shot and turned the ball over as time ticked off the clock. James went to the line with 23 ticks left and dropped both of his freebies, and a Becker technical foul then allowed SVC junior Casey Hall (Albany, New York) to go to the line for the deal-sealing pair that gave the Mountaineers their first playoff win since they defeated Daniel Webster 63-60 in 2011.
Regis 75, Daniel Webster 59
Daniel Webster shot 56.0 percent from the floor in the first half to take a 36-32 lead to the break, but Regis was able to bounce back and outscore the Eagles by 20 points in the second period to take the victory. The last 20 minutes saw DWC shoot only 25.0 percent from the floor while the Pride hit 50 percent of their field goals.
Four players tied the game-high of 14 points with two being from RC. Junior Jeff Tagger Jr. (Brockton, Massachusetts) tallied that many while grabbing seven rebounds, and sophomore Chris Leak Jr. (New Haven, Connecticut) pulled down a game-best 13 rebounds to go with his 14 points for the double-double. Junior Hector Heredia (Lawrence, Massachusetts) scored 11 points and registered a game-best five assists in the win.
Eagle sophomore Angelo Adon (Silver Spring, Maryland) led the team with his 14 points while junior Ryan Gauthier (Nashua, New Hampshire) followed with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Ray Farmer (Nashua, New Hampshire) had 11 points and three blocks to go with his team-best eight rebounds, and sophomore Shawn Fenton (South River, New Jersey) added another 11 points to go with six boards.
Regis finished with a 49.1 field goal percentage (28-57) while Daniel Webster wasn't far off at 40.8 percent (20-49). The Pride had a 33-28 edge on the boards while only committing 10 turnovers to the Eagles' 16. RC was dominant in the paint, outscoring DWC 40-14 from the lane.
Daniel Webster went on top 7-2 early on with an Adon three-pointer, but Regis was able to cut it to a three-point deficit when Heredia got a floater in the lane to go. The Eagles bumped their advantage back up to seven with a Fenton swish from beyond the arc, and another Adon trey soon-after made it 21-13 in favor of DWC. Regis would not go away, however, as the Pride scored the next two baskets to bring it back to a one-possession game (21-18). Daniel Webster scored six unanswered just minutes later to push it back out to eight at 30-22, but Heredia then completed the rare four-point play to stay close.
A Pair of Farmer free throws put DWC ahead 34-28 with 3:10 to go in the first, and the game then went scoreless for over two minutes. After the drought, Regis scored a pair of buckets to cut the Pride's deficit to two, but a Farmer layup was released just before the horn for Daniel Webster to take a 36-32 lead to the break.
RC would not trail for long after intermission as the Pride scored the first five points of the second half to go up 37-36 and force a Daniel Webster timeout. Coming out of the stoppage, Adon knocked down a three-pointer to put his team back on top. However, that's when Regis went on an 8-0 run that included a pair of deep baskets for the Pride to take a 45-39 lead, one they would hold on to for good.
A Gauthier triple at the 11:54 mark cut it to 49-46 as the teams traded scores. A Keaton basket from downtown started another RC 8-0 run, giving the Pride a comfortable cushion they could carry to the win. Each team continued to make baskets down the stretch with Regis refusing to let Daniel Webster chip away at the lead to get back in it.