WESTON, Mass. – Regis College rallied back from a seven-point deficit with 9:07 remaining in the second half to edge Daniel Webster College, 60-58, in the New England Collegiate Conference Men's Basketball First Round on Tuesday night in Weston, Mass. The Pride (12-14) advance to take on Newbury College on Friday night in the NECC Semifinals held at Elms College.
Daniel Webster wraps up its season at 11-15 overall.
Jose Allen (Amherst, Mass.) scored the first five points of the game to stake Daniel Webster to an early 5-0 advantage before Carlos Bermudez-Glean (Boston, Mass.) buried a three to make it a 5-3 game. Osanto Marc (Kissimmee, Fla.) and Evin Matted (Hartford, Mass.) registered back-to-back baskets to give the Pride their first lead of the game at 7-5 and Hector Heredia (Lawrence, Mass.) answered with a three from the wing to put DWC back on top 8-5.
The teams traded leads as a John Hickson (Springfield, Mass.) layup put the Eagles on top 13-12 at the 12:55 mark. Both offenses stalled over the next three minutes until a pair of Ahmad Charles (Cambridge, Mass.) freethrows at the 9:56 mark put the Pride back on top 14-13. Ryan Chambers (Abington, Mass.) answered with a jumper on the baseline and Jordan Monts (Springfield, Mass.) scored on an inbounds pass to give Regis the 18-13 lead and force a Daniel Webster timeout.
Regis built leads in excess of seven points over the next few minutes and an Ahmad Charles spinning layup with 3:38 to play gave Regis its largest lead of the period at 30-21. The Eagles' Jose Allen took over the closing minutes of the half as his back-to-back triples knifed the deficit to 30-27 and a Heredia jumper with only 24 seconds left made it a 30-29 ballgame headed into the break.
Carlos Bermudez-Glean led Regis with eight points, while Osanto Marc and Ahmad Charles added seven points apiece. Jose Allen led all scorers at the half with 13 points, knocking down three three-pointers.
Evin Matted knocked down a pair of freethrows in the opening minutes of the second half to keep the Regis lead at 32-31 and the sophomore followed that with a monster put-back slam off a miss from Marc to give the Pride an early three point lead. A Ryan Chambers fastbreak layup with 13:27 to play gave the Pride a four point lead, but DWC's Daris Cosby (Columbia, S.C.) answered with a triple and Aiden Collins (Paterson, N.J.) scored off an offensive rebound to put Daniel Webster on top 41-40. Cosby then scored six-straight points to give DWC its largest lead of the game, 47-40, with 9:07 remaining in regulation.
The Pride began their rally with a 6-0 run by Marc and Chambers to make it a 47-46 game with 4:38 to play. Dave Schindewolf (Robbinsville, N.J.) put the Eagles back on top by three with a jumper, but Ahmad Charles forced a Daniel Webster foul, getting the Pride into the bonus with just under three minutes to play. Charles calmly sunk both freethrows to cut the deficit back to one, and Bermudez-Glean hit a pair on the ensuing Regis possession after drawing a foul to put the Pride back on top, 50-49. The Pride continued their run at the freethrow line as Ethan Peana extended the lead to 52-49 with two more freethrows.
On the next DWC, possession, Bermudez-Glean forced a steal and was intentionally fouled trying to start the fastbreak, leading to two more made freebies for the Pride as well as possession of the ball. Peana made them pay as he corralled an offensive rebound and laid it home to put the Pride on top 56-49.
Daniel Webster would not go away quietly as Cosby connected on a three-ball, and following a turnover by the Pride, Schindewolf buried a three to make it a 56-55 game with only 56 seconds remaining. On the next Regis possession, Carlos Bermudez-Glean used a ball screen from Peana to clear some space and fired a jumper from the elbow that caught nothing but net to push the Pride lead back to three, 58-55. The Eagles had two chances to tie the game following an offensive rebound, but Peana grabbed a defensive rebound with 8.6 seconds remaining and was fouled, and as the Pride had done down the stretch, Peana buried both freethrows to make it a five point game. The freethrows proved crucial as Schindewolf's three from 30-feet out with only four seconds left made it a 60-58 game. Peana inbounded the ball to Berumudez-Glean, who dribbled out the clock and helped the Pride advance to the NECC Semifinals for the second-straight season.
Carlos Bermudez-Glean scored a team-high 14 points and added five rebounds and four steals to lead Regis. Osanto Marc joined him in double-figures with 13 points and six rebounds, while Ahmad Charles added nine points. Ethan Peana came off the bench to score eight points and grab six rebounds. Regis shot 17-of-21 from the charity stripe on the night, including a 12-for-13 performance in the second half.
Daniel Webster's Jose Allen scored a game-high 15 points to lead the Eagles. Daris Cosby buried three triples en route to 12 points and six rebounds, and Dave Schindewolf hit three three's of his own to add 11 points and four assists. The Eagles attempted 27 threes in the contest, connecting on 11 of them.
The Pride enter the NECC Semifinals riding a season-high seven-game win-streak, including a 79-66 win over No. 2 seeded Newbury on February 13. The Pride and Nighthawks meet on Friday night at 8:00 p.m. in Chicopee, Mass.