MOUNTAINEERS CLIMB PAST PRIDE, 76-64

WESTON, Mass. – Southern Vermont College shot 50.9% from the court and 52.6% from long range as the Mountaineers remained unbeaten in the New England Collegiate Conference with a 76-64 victory over the Regis College men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon. The loss, the Crimson and Gold's fourth in a row, drops their record to 4-12, 1-6 NECC and the victory improves Southern Vermont's mark to 15-3, 9-0 NECC.

Junior guard Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Md.) came off the bench and led the Mountaineer attack with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting including 4-of-4 from three point land. Chris Leak Jr. (New Haven, Conn.) tallied a team-best 15 points for the Pride in 22 minutes off the bench. Regis as a team outscored SVC 34-18 in the paint.

Senior guard William Bromirski (Cambridge, N.Y.) opened up the scoring when he buried a three-ball from the corner to give the Mountaineers the early 3-0 lead. Regis responded with four straight points as Ademola Afonja (Staten Island, N.Y.) connected on a jumper from the elbow and Sam Jean-Gilles (Melrose, Mass.) drove underneath for a layup assisted by Jeff Tagger Jr. (Brockton, Mass.) Regis held their only lead of the contest 4-3 with 16:51 left in the first half.

Three minutes later the Mountaineers emptied their bench and their second unit went to work. Jordan came off the bench and immediately was a factor as the junior connected on three shots from downtown as part of a 19-3 Mountaineer run to put the guests up 16, 28-12 with 9:04 remaining in the stanza.

However, Regis responded with a 9-2 run spurned by a three-pointer from senior sharpshooter Chris Keaton (Beverly, Mass.), a layup by captain Jordan Monts (Springfield, Mass.) and four points from Chris Leak Jr. which cut the deficit to nine, 30-21 with 6:16 left in the half. The Pride outscored the Mountaineers 8-5 over the remaining six minutes to head into the break down six, 35-29.

34 seconds into the second half, senior forward DeShawn Hamlet (Hartford, Conn.) picked up his third foul of the contest and was sent to the bench because of foul trouble. This was the perfect opportunity for the Pride to get back into the contest as they immediately attacked the paint with Ademola Afonja who converted a layup to from Jeff Tagger Jr. to cut the deficit to four, 35-31. The Mountaineers continued with the long ball attack as junior guard Nate Goldsmith (Capitol Heights, Md.) and Casey Hall (Albany, N.Y.) knocked down three-pointers to put the visitors up 15 with 14:23 to go.

The closest Regis got in the second half was down 12 points after sophomore forward Jawaun Lewis (Jacksonville, Fla.) made back-to-back jumpers from the same spot, but it wasn't enough as the Mountaineer attack continued which put SVC up as many as 21 points, as the Pride dropped their fourth in a row.

Casey Hall scored 15 points in the win and added four rebounds and three blocks. William Bromirski made three three-pointers and scored 10 points. Jordan Monts had a near double-double scoring eight points and grabbing nine rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. Jawaun Lewis scored 12 points and snagged six rebounds, while Jeff Tagger Jr. added 10 points of his own and dished out a game-best six assists.

Regis looks to end their losing skid on Tuesday against conference opponent Lesley University at 6:00 p.m. while SVC welcomes Lesley to the Mountaineer Athletic Center on Saturday, January 30th at 3:00 p.m.