WESTON, Mass. – Lesley University held on for a 51-44 victory over host Regis College in a New England Collegiate Conference men's basketball contest on Tuesday night in Weston, Mass. The Lynx improve to 3-4 on the year overall and 1-0 in the NECC, while Regis falls to 0-7 overall and 0-1.
Regis jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on back-to-back baskets by Ethan Peana (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Jordan Monts (Springfield, Mass.) and took a 6-2 lead following another Monts layup with 14:06 to go in the opening stanza. Justin Rosa (East Brunswick, N.J.) made it a 6-5 game with a triple and a Matt Gibson (Quincy, Mass.) three-ball on their next possession gave Lesley their first lead of the day at 8-6. Monts answered with a running jumper to tie it at 8-all, but the Lynx answered with a 9-1 run to take a 17-9 lead and prompt a Regis timeout after another Rosa three.
Out of the break, the Pride's leading scorer Ryan Chambers (Abington, Mass.) entered the scoring column with a three from the top of the key to make it a five point game, but as they had done before, back-to-back baskets by Valentine Emebo (Dorchester, Mass.) and Brian Glodowski (Roseville, Calif.) stretched the lead back to nine. Both offenses stalled over the final three minutes of action, but Lesley hit enough shots to build a 26-15 lead headed into the break.
Jordan Monts led Regis at the half with seven points and four rebounds. Ethan Peana added four rebounds of his own, while Evin Matted (Hartford, Conn.) chipped in three boards off the bench. Lesley was led by nine points from Matt Gibson on three three-balls, while Rosa added two triples himself for six points.
Lesley came out the aggressor in the second half as they stretched their lead to 14 following a pair of Valentine Emebo freethrows with 15:19 to play in the game. Regis answered this time as Peana and Chambers scored on two-straight possessions before Matted corralled a Carlos Bermudez-Glean (Boston, Mass.) alley-oop pass for a layup to make it a 34-26 game and force a Lesley timeout. Out of the break, Justin Rosa knocked down a circus-style jumper over two defenders with time on the shot clock expiring to stretch the Lynx lead back to 10.
On the next Regis possession, Mike McCloskey (Winter Springs, Fla.) hit 1-of-2 freethrows and following a defensive stop by the Pride, Matted converted a three-point play on an inbounds pass from Bermudez-Glean. After another defensive stand, Matted controlled his own miss and tipped it home to make it a four point game at 36-32 with 9:42 to play.
The teams would trade baskets over the next six minutes before a back-breaking three by Rosa on a drive and kick stretched the Lesley lead back to 45-38 and forced a Regis timeout with 2:09 showing on the clock. Out of the timeout, Matted grabbed another offensive rebound and kicked it out to Chambers who buried a deep three to cut the lead back to four.
Valentine Emebo silenced the comeback with a spinning layup on offense and following that with a monster block on defense to thwart any chance of a Regis comeback. Lesley stretched the lead back to 10 over the final minute before Bermudez-Glean buried a three as time expired to make the final score 51-44.
Lesley won the battle on the boards, 35-29, while Regis won the turnover battle with only 10 mistakes to Lesley's 13. Both teams struggled from the freethrow line as Regis shot only 55% (11-of-20) while Lesley went 6-for-16 (37.5%) at the charity stripe.
Jordan Monts led the Pride with 12 points and nine rebounds, just missing out on his first collegiate double-double. Matted came off the bench to score all 10 of the Pride's bench points and added six rebounds. Ryan Chambers scored eight points while playing all 40 minutes of the game. Bermudez-Glean posted a game-high six assists for the Pride.
Matt Gibson scored a game-high 16 points to lead the Lynx. Justin Rosa joined him in double-figures with 13 points and a team-best four assists. Brian Glodowski chipped in nine points and seven rebounds, while Emebo came off the bench to add eight points and four boards.
The Pride will try and grab their first win of the season on Saturday afternoon as Regis travels to Elms College for an NECC contest at 4:00 p.m. Lesley will take on Tufts University on Friday night in Medford, Mass. at 7:00 p.m.
Release courtesy of Regis College Sports Information