Leicester, Mass. – Becker College defeated Newbury College 84-75 in New England Collegiate Conference semifinal action at Leicester Gymnasium. Four Hawks players finished in double figures. Junior Rajai Leggett (New Haven, Conn.) had a double double, 22 points and 11 rebounds in 33 minutes of action. Senior Trae Jacobs (Lexington Park, MD) has 12 points, tying him for second all-time in scoring (1615 points).

Newbury was led by Tim Young (Brockton, Mass.) and Chris Torres (Brockton, Mass.) who both finished with 19 points and Peterson Bernard (Boston, Mass.) who had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Becker's record improves to 23-3 while Newbury will finish the season at 11-15.

The teams traded baskets for the first six minutes of action and remained tied at 8-8. Becker quickly went on an 11-0 run over the next two and a half minutes with a basket by Trae Jacobs (Lexington Park, MD), 4 points by Terrance Favors (Boston, Mass.) Followed by a steal and a basket by Rajai Leggett (New Haven, Conn.) and a three pointer by Ricky Clark (New Britain, Conn.) to build a comfortable 19-8 lead. Newbury battled back in the stanza, junior guard Chris Torres (Brockton, Mass.) scored eight unanswered points for the Nighthawks cutting the lead to 33-26 with three minutes to play in the half. The Hawks answered back with a 6-2 run to end the half with a 40-28 lead.

Becker shot 45% to Newbury's 42% in the half. Leggett and Torres each had 10 points in the half for their teams. The Hawks caused 16 turnovers in 20 minutes.

In the second half Becker built leads of 19 points. Newbury strung together several baskets and cut the lead to 10 points 62-52 when Kwame Thompson (Brockton, Mass.) buried a three pointer from the right side. The teams traded baskets and it was still a 10 point game when Newbury's Torres hit a basket and a free throw with 4:35 remaining. Nighthawks guard Tim Young (Brockton, Mass.) scored a layup off a Becker miss to make the game 75-67 with 3:23 left to play. On the ensuing play Becker had a backcourt violation and Newbury's center Peterson Bernard (Boston, Mass.) scored in the paint to make the deficit 6 points, 75-69. Becker answered with a couple of Favors' free throws and a layup to increase the lead to 10, 79-69 with just under a minute to play.

Terrance Favors finished with 17 points and Moody Doherty (Roselle, NJ) had 14 points for Becker.

Becker will play the #2 Elms College at today at 2:00pm at Becker College.