Norfolk Reporter

Men's Basketball Pulls Away in Second Half for 79-66 Win at Regis

The Dean College men's basketball team used a strong second half to pull away for a 79-66 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) road win at Regis on Saturday afternoon. 

Dean (10-4, 5-2 GNAC) welcomes the University of Saint Joseph, the No. 1 team in the country according to the most recent national poll, to Pieri Gymnasium on Tuesday for a 5 p.m. tip. Regis (7-7, 3-4 GNAC) travels to Lasell on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. game with the Lasers.

The aggressive Bulldogs made 26-of-32 free throw attempts, while Regis was 7-of-9 from the line.

Dean senior Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) led all players with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting. He added 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Junior Charles Walker (Princeton, N.C.) was next on the Bulldogs with 17 points. Junior AJ Weston (Kansas City, Mo.) made all 12 of his free throw attempts to finish with 15 points. He added five assists and four steals. Junior Jayden Madise (Palmdale, Calif.) contributed nine points and eight rebounds.

Russell Rau (Fitchburg, Mass.) led Regis with a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds. Devante Thompson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Justin Evelyn (Uniondale, N.Y.) also scored 11 points.

The first half featured nine ties and 13 lead changes as neither team was able to establish more than a three-point advantage in the first 20 minutes. After scoring the final three points of the first half, Dean opened the second half with a 9-3 scoring run, capped by a three-pointer from Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.), to open a nine-point lead at 40-31.

Regis closed to within two points, eight minutes into the half, on a three-pointer by Zakaria Latifi (Holliston, Mass.), but Dean went on a 10-2 scoring run, starting with a three-pointer from Malik Spearman (St. Paul, Minn.) and concluding with baskets by Walker and Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas).

Gehrig Brynda (Deerfield, Mass.) hit a three-pointer and Rau made a layup to cut the Bulldog lead in half, but Dean went 13-for-14 from the free throw line in the final five-and-a-half minutes of the game to solidify its victory. 

Original source can be found here