LEICESTER, Mass. – Second-seeded Elms College used a strong second half performance to help the Blazers to a come-from-behind victory over No. 6 Regis College in Friday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament men's basketball semifinal contest in Leicester, Mass.
With the win, Elms improves to 17-9 overall and earns its fourth-consecutive trip to the NECC tournament title game. The Blazers will square off against top-seeded Becker College (22-4 overall) at 2:00 p.m. in Leicester, Mass. The Hawks defeated fifth-seeded Newbury College (13-14 overall), 83-60 in the tournaments other semifinal contest. The Pride conclude its season 11-16 overall.
The first half presented a defensive battle as Regis held a 6-0 lead five minutes into the game before Elms' senior guard Bryant Corcoran (Waterbury, Conn.) hit a jumper to put the Blazers on the board.
The Pride led by as many as eight in the opening 20 minutes and posted a 19-12 cushion on a free throw by Osanto Marc (Kissimmee, Fla.) at the 4:19 mark before Elms scored on a jumper by junior forward Jamal Hulum (Reston, Va.) and a pair of free throws by junior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) to pull the Blazers to within three at 19-16 with 3:01 to play in the period.
From there, Regis closed out the half on an 8-0 run highlighted by a pair of Ahmad Charles (Cambridge, Mass.) steals that resulted in two fast-break layups by Ryan Chambers (Abington, Mass.) and a three-pointer by Chambers to give the Pride a 27-16 lead at intermission.
Chambers finished with seven points in the first half for Regis, while Corcoran led the Blazers with five points in the first stanza.
Trailing 31-23 with 10:31 remaining in the contest, French drilled a three-pointer to pull the Blazers to within five at 31-26. Junior guard James Black (Baltimore, Md.) and French then added back-to-back layups to shrink the gap to one at 31-30 with 9:29 remaining in the contest.
Marc then connected from beyond the arc to extend Regis' lead back to four at 34-30 before Elms responded by scoring six of the next eight points to even the game at 36-36 with 5:43 on the clock following a French three-pointer.
Robert Edwards (Memphis, Tenn.) knocked down a jumper to give the Pride a 38-36 lead before Blazers' senior guard Daniel Gonzalez (East Windsor, Conn.) gave Elms its first lead of the game at 39-38 at the 4:39 mark. Gonzalez then netted another triple to set the score at 42-38 with just over four minutes to play in regulation.
The Pride rallied to tie the game as Charles canned a trey of his own and Mike McClosky, (Winter Springs, Fla.) converted a free throw at the 2:08 mark to knot the score at 42-42.
In the final four minutes of action Elms hit on 8 of 12 free throws and after Regis had pulled to within one at 46-45, French hit on 2 of 2 and junior guard Charles Bason (Riverdale, Md.) delivered 2 of 4 foul shots to cap the Blazers' 50-45 win.
French finished with 14 points and Gonzalez added 13 points off the bench, while junior forward David McDaniel (Plainfield, N.J.) and Corcoran finished with nine and eight boards respectively.
Marc was the only player to reach double figures for the Pride, netting a team-high 11 points, while Charles and Edwards totaled nine points each in the loss.