BENNINGTON, Vt. — Southern Vermont College and Regis College grabbed New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) victories Friday night in the 2015 Conference semifinals, earning the right to play in Saturday's Championship at the Mountaineer Athletic Center.
The top-seeded Mountaineers needed overtime to take down No. 4 Becker College in Friday's first semi by a 71-66 tally, and No. 2 Regis then took care of No. 6 Daniel Webster College by a 75-59 final in the nightcap. SVC improves to 23-3 on the season as the Pride bump their record to 17-8 on the year. BC falls to 16-11 while Daniel Webster finishes the season at 11-15 with the losses.
Southern Vermont and Regis will face-off Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. at the Mountaineer Athletic Center for the title. Neither squad has captured an NECC tournament crown in the league's seven-year history.
Southern Vermont 71, Becker 66 (OT)
The night's first game saw SVC take a 10-point lead midway through the first half, only to have Becker come back and tie things up at 30-30 heading into the locker rooms. The second half was close the whole way as neither side could hold enough momentum to put away from the other, and the Hawks narrowly missed stealing the game as BC swiped the ball from the Mountaineers' final possession and just missed a buzzer-beating to win it. In the extra period, SVC was able to make enough free throws down the stretch to seal the win and move on to its first NECC Championship game.
Mountaineer junior William Bromirski (Cambridge, New York) was electric from the floor, going 8-14 with a 6-10 clip from three-point range for a game-best 23 points. Classmate DeShawn Hamlet(Hartford, Connecticut) followed with 15 points off the SVC bench while senior captain Dolapo Olugbile(Laurel, Maryland) added 13 points and a team-best seven rebounds.
Becker was led by sophomore Kyle Credle (Queens, New York) who dropped 15 points in reserve time while adding four boards and a pair of steals in the effort. Senior captain Donovan Ford-Hayes (Windsor Locks, Connecticut) added 14 points and a team-high three assists, and classmate and captain David Maturah (Windsor Locks, Connecticut) provided 11 points and six rebounds. Junior Rashaun Liggon(Elizabeth, New Jersey) scored nine points to go with his game-best 10 rebounds.
SVC shot 44.2 percent from the floor (23-52) while holding Becker to a 36.9 percent clip (24-65). The Hawks out-rebounded Southern Vermont by a 37-32 margin while the Mountaineers owned a 26-22 edge on points in the paint.
Regis 75, Daniel Webster 59
Daniel Webster shot 56.0 percent from the floor in the first half to take a 36-32 lead to the break, but Regis was able to bounce back and outscore the Eagles by 20 points in the second period to take the victory. The last 20 minutes saw DWC shoot only 25.0 percent from the floor while the Pride hit 50 percent of their field goals.
Four players tied the game-high of 14 points with two being from RC. Junior Jeff Tagger Jr. (Brockton, Massachusetts) tallied that many while grabbing seven rebounds, and sophomore Chris Leak Jr. (New Haven, Connecticut) pulled down a game-best 13 rebounds to go with his 14 points for the double-double. Junior Hector Heredia (Lawrence, Massachusetts) scored 11 points and registered a game-best five assists in the win.
Eagle sophomore Angelo Adon (Silver Spring, Maryland) led the team with his 14 points while juniorRyan Gauthier (Nashua, New Hampshire) followed with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Ray Farmer (Nashua, New Hampshire) had 11 points and three blocks to go with his team-best eight rebounds, and sophomore Shawn Fenton (South River, New Jersey) added another 11 points to go with six boards.
Regis finished with a 49.1 field goal percentage (28-57) while Daniel Webster wasn't far off at 40.8 percent (20-49). The Pride had a 33-28 edge on the boards while only committing 10 turnovers to the Eagles' 16. RC was dominant in the paint, outscoring DWC 40-14 from the lane.