Men's Basketball Back in Win Column After Break

NASHUA, N.H. - Regis College held on to an early lead, defeating Rivier University, 73-67, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball contest Tuesday night at Muldoon Health and Fitness Center.

Russell Rau (Fitchburg, Mass.) led the Pride offensively with 22 points on 9-for-17 shooting from the field including a pair of three-pointers to earn his third 20-point performance of the season. Devante Thompson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Justin Evelyn (Uniondale, N.Y.) both contributed 15 points while Gehrig Brynda (Deerfield, Mass.) went a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, including a three-pointer, to finish with seven points coming off the bench.

Rau and Evelyn scored 12 of the Pride's first 14 points with each of them knocking down a three-pointer early in the first half to help Regis gain a healthy 18-5 lead over the home team. Layups by Rau and Thompson gave Regis a 17-point lead, its largest of the night, late in the first half while Pharaoh Davis worked to keep Rivier in the game, scoring six straight points in the final two minutes of the half to cut the deficit to nine.

The Raiders came out swinging in the second half, going on a 15-3 scoring run bookended by threes from Marko Ljushikj and Baguidy Robenson to tie the score at 41 points apiece. Another Robenson three gave Rivier a short-lived advantage as the Pride fought back to regain the lead when an Evelyn layup jumpstarted a seven-point scoring run for Regis. From there the game went back and forth until the Pride were able to pull away, extending their lead to ten points off a layup by Thompson to put the game out of reach for Rivier.

Regis enjoyed a field goal percentage of 45.6 on 31-for-68 shooting while Rivier went 25-for-68 resulting in a field goal percentage of 36.8. The Pride barely managed to outrebound the Raiders by a margin of 44-42 while dominating in the paint, scoring 46 points down low compared to only 28 for the home team.

Davis led Rivier with 15 points while Nikolas Pignone added 13 coming off the bench. Baguidy contributed an additional 11 points while Nesta Roberts earned the double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Regis College (7-3, 3-0 GNAC) next plays in a road game at Albertus Magnus on Thursday, Jan. 5, starting at 7:30 p.m. before returning home on Saturday, Jan. 7, to take on top ranked University of Saint Joseph for a 3 p.m. scheduled tipoff.