WESTON, Mass. – Becker College defeated Regis College, 66-56, in New England Collegiate Conference men's basketball action on Saturday night in Weston, Mass. The Pride had their five game winning-streak snapped and fall to 8-11 overall on the year and 7-4 in the NECC. Becker has now won four-straight to move to 11-8 and 7-3 in league games.
Both teams struggled from the field to start the game as David Maturah (Windsor Locks, Conn.) registered the game's first field goal at the 16 minute mark of the first half. The Hawks then scored three-straight fastbreak layups, including a pair from Donovin Ford-Hayes (Windsor Locks, Conn.) and another from Tyler Roberson (Irvington, N.J.), to make it an 8-1 lead for Becker. The Pride's Ryan Chambers (Abington, Mass.) ended the run with a deep three, and an Ahmad Charles (Cambridge, Mass.) layup with 11:15 to play made it a 10-7 game.
Ford-Hayes connected on a deep triple to push the lead back to six, but Ethan Peana (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Chambers had back-to-back layups to cut the deficit back to 13-11 and force a Becker timeout. Regis got as close as 15-13 before the Hawks ended the half on a 17-6 run to grab a 32-19 lead headed into the break.
Chambers led Regis with eight points, while Ahmad Charles and Sam Jean-Gilles (Melrose, Mass.) added four points apiece. Peana grabbed seven rebounds in the opening 20 minutes. Becker was led by 10 points from David Maturah, while Donovin Ford-Hayes had nine points, five rebounds, and three assists in the period.
Regis slowly chipped away in the second half and Ryan Chambers scored five of the seven points in a 7-0 run that made it a 38-34 game with 14:40 to play. Chambers buried another triple a minute and a half later to cut the deficit to five, and Ethan Peana hit a spinning layup with 12:05 to play to cut the Becker lead to only four.
After a Regis timeout, Donovin Ford-Hayes buried a deep three with the shot clock expiring to push the lead back to seven points. Osanto Marc Jr. (Kissimmee, Fla.) hit a pair of freethrows to make it a five point game, but the Hawks responded with a 9-1 run capped off by another Ford-Hayes triple to make it a 13 point advamtage. The Pride tried to fight their way back into the game, but Becker made enough freethrows down the stretch, including 6-of-6 for Tyler Roberson and 4-of-4 for Kyle Credle (Queens, N.Y.), to hand the Pride the 66-56 setback.
Regis won the rebounding battle 46-36 that included 16 offensive rebounds, but the Pride committed 15 turnovers compared to just eight for the visitors, which Becker turned into 14 points off turnovers. The Pride shot 32.8% from the field (20-of-61) compared to 39.6% shooting (21-of-53) for Becker. The Hawks attempted 31 freethrows in the game, hitting 20, while Regis went 11-for-17 from the charity stripe.
Ryan Chambers led the Pride with 16 points, including four three-pointers, while Ethan Peana had his third double-double of the season with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Ahmad Charles added eight points, and Marc Jr. had six points and seven rebounds to go with a pair of blocks. Sam Jean-Gilles chipped in seven points and eight rebounds.
Becker's Donovin Ford-Hayes led four players in double-figures for the Hawks with 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals. David Maturah added 15 points, five rebounds, and three blocks, and Kyle Credle came off the bench to score 13 points. Tyler Roberson scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high four steals in the win.
Regis returns to action on Thursday night when the Pride hosts Elms College in a 7:00 p.m. NECC contest. Becker will try and make it five-straight wins on Tuesday night when they host Newbury College at 8:00 p.m.