Second Half Surge Lifts Men’s Basketball Past Regis College, 82-63

WESTON, Mass. -  Elms College senior guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) netted a game-high 20 points and sophomore forward Kenneth Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) grabbed a game-best 10 rebounds to help the Blazers pull away to an 82-63 victory over Regis College in Saturday afternoon's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) men's basketball game in Weston, Mass.

With the win, Elms improves to 8-8 overall, 7-1 in NECC action, while Regis falls to 3-12 on the season, 3-4 in NEC action.  

In the first period, the sides battled to a pair of tie scores and a lead change before the Blazers broke a 17-17 stalemate when Lockett hit a pair of free throws that triggered an 11-4 run and featured three-pointers by senior forward David McDaniel (Plainfield, N.J.) and sophomore guard Piere Simpson (East Hartford, Conn.) to give Elms a 28-21 lead with 2:36 to play in the half.

Regis' Ryan Chambers (Abington, Mass.) converted a pair of free throws, and following a Lockett layup, Jordan Monts (Springfield, Mass.) and Carlos Bermudez-Glean (Boston, Mass.) added back-to-back layups to pull the Pride to within three at 30-27 with 1:01 to play in the stanza. French then hit the back end of two foul shots to give the Blazers a 31-27 edge at intermission.

McDaniel was terrific in the first 20 minutes for Elms, scoring 11 of his 17 points on 3 of 4 shooting from the field, while Lockett was a perfect 4 for 4 from the charity stripe and added seven rebounds in the frame.

Regis came out firing to start the second half as Chambers canned a trey to narrow the Pride's deficit to one (31-30), but Elms scored seven of the next eight points highlighted by a French three-pointer to give the Blazers a 38-31 cushion at the 17:10 mark.

Consecutive buckets by Bermudez-Glean inched the Pride to within three (38-35) with 15:49 on the clock, but that's as close as Regis would get as Elms extended its lead to double digits on a swish from beyond the arc by French with 11:35 remaining in the contest to set the score at 48-38.

The Blazers extended their lead to as many as 20 (79-59) when Simpson hit one of two free throws with 2:53 to play in the contest as Elms completed an 82-63 victory.

Elms shot a sizzling 52.0-percent from the field and 47.4-percent from three-point range. McDaniel and Lockett finished with 17 and 12 points each behind French's 20 points, while senior forward Jamal Hulum (Norfolk, Va.) and freshman guard Jerry Buchanon (Windsor, Conn.) combined for 17 of Elms' 25 bench points.

Simpson added six rebounds and four assists, and McDaniel and Hulum hauled in five boards each in the winning effort.

Chambers was 3 of 12 from long distance and totaled a team-best 17 points. Evin Matted (Hartford, Conn.) followed with 11 points and Bermudez-Glean and Osanto Marc (Kissimmee, Fla.) contributed 10 points apiece for Regis.

Marc added four assists and Bermudez-Glean recorded four steals in the losing effort, while Matted and Marc accounted for six boards each to lead the Pride.  

Elms returns to non-conference action on Thursday, January 24 when it hosts UMass-Dartmouth at 7:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.