Pride Men’s Hoop Falls at Worcester State

WORCESTER, Mass. - Regis College held a halftime lead, but Worcester State rallied in the second half to defeat the Pride, 85-70, Saturday afternoon in a non-conference men's collegiate basketball game at Brissette Court.

Devante Thompson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) led the Pride with 16 points, 13 of them in the first half, while Jamir Harvey (Robbins, Ill.) contributed 12 points off the bench. Russell Rau (Fitchburg, Mass.) paced the team on the boards with eight rebounds, and Joshua Perez (Lynn, Mass.) dished out a career-high eight assists.

Zakaria Latifi (Holliston, Mass.) hit consecutive three-pointers early in the first half to put the Pride on top, and Thompson would score four points in a row for Regis to extend its lead to 19-12. Worcester State rattled off 10 straight points over a two-minute span to pull ahead, 22-19, before Perez was fouled attempting a three-point shot and made all three free throws to tie the game at 22-22.

The two teams exchanged baskets until Regis scored 10 unanswered points, beginning with back-to-back three-pointers by Gehrig Brynda (Deerfield, Mass.) and Harvey and capped by a steal and layup by Perez. Jumpers by Thompson and Justin Evelyn (Uniondale, N.Y.) in the final minute of the first half allowed the Pride to take a 44-37 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Worcester State (8-4) took control from the start of the second half, as Zion Hendrix hit a three-pointer to begin a 15-3 Lancer scoring run in the first five minutes. Tate Pike (Bellingham, Mass.) scored seven straight Regis points to pull the Pride within three at 57-54, but four points from Ryan Rubenskas and a three-pointer by Aaron Nkrumah allowed the Lancers to extend their lead into double figures at 64-54.

The Lancers put the game away late in the second half thanks to an 11-3 scoring run, with Rubenskas scoring nine of those points. He shot 13-for-17 from the field to finish with 28 points, 15 rebounds, and five assists, while Nkrumah collected 17 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and three blocked shots.

Erik Bjorn also notched a double-double for Worcester State with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Brandon Goris finished with 10 points and six assists. As a team, the Lancers shot 52.2 percent (36-for-69) from the field, earning assists on 30 of those field goals, plus they won the rebounding battle, 48-35.

The Pride shot 36.1 percent (26-for-72) from the field and 76.9 percent (10-for-13) from the free throw line. The loss snapped Regis' four-game winning streak, the team's longest winning stretch since a four-game streak from Jan. 8 to Jan. 18 in 2020.

Regis College (6-3, 2-0 GNAC) will begin 2023 with back-to-back conference road games at Rivier Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 5 p.m. and at Albertus Magnus Thursday, Jan. 5, at 7:30 p.m. The Pride will play its first home game of the new year Saturday, Jan. 7, against nationally ranked University of Saint Joseph starting at 3 p.m.