NEWARK, N.J. – Less than 24 hours removed from a 35-point season-opening win, the Wesleyan men's basketball team turned in another dominant outing, defeating Springfield 83-51 on Saturday afternoon in the John K. Adams Tip-Off Classic Championship game hosted by Rutgers-Newark.
Shane Regan '25 was named Tournament MVP as he put in a career-high 25 points against the Pride on 10-for-16 shooting, marking his first career 20-point game as a Cardinal. For the tournament, Regan averaged 20.5 points and 4.5 assists per game on 63 percent shooting.
Jared Langs '25 joined his classmate on the All-Tournament Team, finishing with 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for his second career double-double. Langs added three blocks in Saturday's title game. For the two-game tournament, Langs averaged 12 points and 11.5 rebounds on 71.4 percent shooting.
Nicky Johnson '25 joined Regan and Langs in double figures as the point guard finished with 10 points, four assists, and four rebounds in 26 minutes.
Ben Lyttle '27 added eight points and six rebounds off the bench.
Hitting the gas early, Wesleyan scored on the three of their first four possessions, building a 7-0 lead just 1:28 into play. Just as the Pride cut the deficit to 13-11, Johnson canned a triple and Regan later scored on consecutive trips down the floor as another 7-0 Cardinal run made it 20-11 nearing the midway point of the first half.
Wesleyan put on a defensive clinic for the remainder of the half, holding the Pride without a field goal for more than 10 minutes as Springfield scored just three total points in the final 11:38 of the first half. Springfield went 0-for-16 from the floor with six turnovers in the 10+ minute span without a basket, finishing the half going 1-for-19 shooting as Wesleyan build a massive 44-16 lead at the halftime break.
Just as the Cardinals took their first 30-point lead of the game on a Regan floater, Wesleyan emptied the bench in the second half, scoring 39 more points and leading by as many as 42 before closing out the 32-point win.
The Cardinals shot 49.2 percent (32-65 FG) from the floor and held a massive +23 edge in the rebounding department (59-36). Springfield, meanwhile, shot just 25 percent overall (18-72 FG) and 4-for-24 (16.7 3FG%) from behind the arc.
Wesleyan heads back out on the road next weekend, with a trip to Boston for the Emmanuel College Tournament starting on Friday at 8 PM in a neutral site showdown against Skidmore. The Cardinals will then face either host Emmanuel or Endicott on Saturday.
