WESTON, Mass. — For the third time in five days, the Southern Vermont College men's basketball team travelled to Massachusetts for a tough New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) contest with Saturday's game seeing the visiting Mountaineers down Regis College 76-64 at Higgins Court.
The Mountaineers led 35-29 at halftime before taking a six-point advantage in the final 20 minutes to extend their upper hand for the league win. SVC evens the all-time series between the two squads at 6-6, now having won the last five regular season meetings against the Pride with the season sweep.
Southern Vermont improves to 15-3 on the year and 9-0 in NECC action while extending its winning streak to seven games. The Mountaineers are now off until next Saturday when they welcome Lesley University to the SVC campus for a 3 p.m. tip-off; the Mountaineers will celebrate the American Cancer Society's Coaches Vs. Cancer Week that day with coaches from both sides wearing suits and sneakers in support of the ACS.
SVC junior Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Md.) registered a career-high 21 points in just 18 minutes off the bench to lead all players, adding three rebounds and a pair of steals to his line. SeniorCasey Hall (Albany, N.Y.) followed with 15 points, four boards and three blocks while classmate William Bromirski (Cambridge, N.Y.) recorded 10 points, three assists and two rebounds. Junior Rayshawn Taylor (Silver Spring, Md.) notched 10 points and three boards in 15 minutes of reserve time, and seniorDeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Conn.) pulled down a team-best seven rebounds in the win.
The Mountaineers went 27-for-53 (50.9 percent) from field goal range while Regis finished at a 40.3 percent (25-62) clip. SVC connected on 10-of-19 (52.6) three-point attempts as RC went just 3-for-20 (15 percent) from beyond the arc. Southern Vermont took a 35-34 edge in rebounds, but Regis owned a 14-9 advantage in points off turnovers and a 34-18 upper hand in points from the key.
Bromirski downed his first three of the game to start the day's scoring, only to have Regis come back with four unanswered to go in front. There would be three ensuing lead changes as the teams went back-and-forth in the early going before a Pride and-one play tied it at 9-9. Taylor got a layup to go before sophomore Daemond Carter (Forestville, Md.) drained a three for the Mountaineers to go up by five, but Regis answered with a triple of its own to cut its deficit back to two. Solid shooting from downtown would then lead SVC to take a commanding lead as Jordan dropped in three treys during a 14-0 Southern Vermont run for the visitors to go up 28-12; he also had a steal-and-score earlier in that stretch before stepping back to drill a three from the right corner and force an RC timeout.
The Pride came back with a 9-2 spurt to close the gap in the latter half of the opening 20 minutes before another Bromirski three from the right corner pushed it up to a 35-23 Southern Vermont advantage with 4:09 to go in the frame. SVC would be shut-out for the remainder of the half, however, as Regis tallied six consecutive points to go into the intermission down 35-29.
RC continued to cut into its deficit after play resumed, a Pride layup making it just a four-point game. SVC senior Jeff James (Bowie, Md.) answered with a pair of baskets before another Bromirski triple pushed the Southern Vermont upper hand back into double digits. Four straight Hall points started an 11-2 Mountaineer run, the senior and Goldsmith each adding a three-pointer in that time for SVC to go in front 53-37 at the 13:56 mark. Jordan would continue his stellar day with another three, the junior finishing the game a perfect 4-for-4 from the perimeter. A pair of Taylor free throws with 9:36 to play made it a 61-44 SVC lead, paving the way for the Mountaineers to carry on for the victory.
Taylor then scored four points during a 6-0 SVC spurt before the Pride inched back with an 11-2 run to get within 12. Southern Vermont connected on its free throws down the stretch to maintain its cushion, a final Jordan layup then making it a 76-59 game with a minute to go. SVC conceded the final five points to Regis to end the game, those points barely digging into the Mountaineer advantage as the visitors walked out with the win.