WESTON, Mass.—Freshman Robert Edwards (Idaho Falls, Idaho/Phillips Exeter) had a career night helping to lead Regis College to a 79-64 victory over conference opponent New England College (12-3, 2-2 TCCC) Wednesday.
Regis College (10-6, 3-1 TCCC) opened the game on a 6-0 run for the first 3:00 minutes of the game. Phil Alibrandi (York, Maine/York) opened the game on a fast break from the tip. Positioned just right, teammate Robert Edwards (Idaho Falls, Idado/Phillips Exeter) tapped the ball to Alibrandi heading to the basket.
Edwards was 12-for-14 from the field and tallied a game and career-high 28 points. He was 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
New England's Joe Faragher (North Ridgeville, Ohio/North Ridgeville) answered first with a tip-in basket. The two teams would battle through the next four minutes, while the Pilgrims offense managed to keep within at least nine points of Regis College.
Following an Edwards jumper from about 12-feet put Regis up nine points (28-19). A missed three-pointer by New England's Andrew MacDonald (Hanson, Mass./Whitman-Hanson) kept the Regis lead as it was.
The Pride jumped to a double-digit lead going into halftime, and maintained a steady offensive play scheme throughout the game. There were no lead changes as Regis College held at least a two point lead during the game.
Faragher brought the game to its closest point with 5:49 remaining in the first half hitting a three-pointer to close the gap to 19-17. Following that score Regis College would go on a 14-3 run to end the half before intermission. Faragher finished with a team-high 22 points, and added 10 rebounds for the double-double.
Up 15 (35-20) to begin the second half, Edwards again got into the paint for the easy bucket. Alibrandi would convert a three-pointer to give Regis its largest lead of 18 points at 40-22. Alibrandi finished his night with 19 points, going 8-for-11 (.727) from the free-throw line, and shooting better than 55 percent (5-for-8) from the field.
The Pilgrims Shane Hennessey (Plymouth, England/Callington Community) posted a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds in his 18 minutes. Hennessey quite often found himself guarding Edwards in the post.
The two teams were close to even with points in the paint. Regis College had 36, while New England battled to finish with 34. The Pride held a 30-18 points in the paint advantage until the last 10:00 of regulation.
New England held an outright advantage in second-chance opportunities, converting 19 points to Regis' lowly four. Credit that to its 21-8 advantage in offensive rebounds.
Michael Ingram-Rubin (Boston, Mass./Bedford) finished with New England's only other double figure performance. Rubin had 10 points, was perfect from the line (3-for-3), and 3-for-9 (.333) from the field.
Freshman Ryan Chambers (Abington, Mass./Abington) contributed 10 points for Regis College on 2-for-5 shooting from behind the arc, and 4-for-4 at the free-throw line.
Regis College shot better than 56 percent from the field, while New England shot a commendable 34 percent.
With the win, Regis College will travel to Eastern Nazarene (Jan. 22), while New England College will travel to Roger Williams (Jan. 22). Both games are The Commonwealth Coast Conference match-ups.