Front Royal, VA – The Regent University Men's Basketball team had not played since the heartbreaking loss to Christendom College on a last second buzzer beater. They have had a week to process it and tonight the Royals had an opportunity for a little payback against the Crusaders. They would have to do it though in front of a packed crowd that would not make things easy for Regent. However, with their team getting some players back from injury, the Royals were confident they would be able to handle the pressure.
Christendom jumped out to a quick five-point lead until Senior Brendan Goods (Melbourne, FL) took a pass from fellow Senior Darrin Clark (Suffolk, VA) and drained a three-pointer from the wing. Clark would follow that up with a three of his own, and suddenly Regent was back in the game. The Crusaders regained the advantage but at the ten-minute mark of the first half, Junior Dorian Tema (Frederick, MD) stole an inbound pass which eventually resulted in a Freshman Joshua Hanna (Chesterfield, VA) basket, giving the Royals their first lead of the game, 18-17. For the next few minutes, the score would change hands but back-to-back scores by Sophomore Chauncey Gilliam (Chesapeake, VA) and Hanna helped send Regent into the half leading 32-28.
Gilliam picked up where he left off with a driving layup to start the second half and then Freshman Grant Worley (Chesapeake, VA) extended the advantage with two free throws. Another strong move to the basket by Hanna gave the Royals their largest lead of the game, however Christendom was able to cut it in half before Goods found a wide-open Tema under the basket for a score. Once again, the game would tighten as the Crusaders pulled to within one-point, but Goods and Gilliam answered with two straight baskets. Christendom would try to make a run but free throws from Worley and Goods closed things out as Regent held on for the payback road win defeating the Crusaders by a final score of 72-67.
Goods led the way with a team-high 17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals, while Worley finished with 15 points. In addition, Gilliam grabbed a game high 12 rebounds and Hanna added 11 points to go along with 6 rebounds.
The Royals will be back in action on Friday, January 30th when they host UC-Santa Cruz at the Freeman Center in Newport News. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00pm.
