BACK FROM THE BRINK: Connolly boys erase 14-point deficit to defeat Diman

FALL RIVER — Put this one just couple of notches below back from the dead.

Down 14 points with less than six minutes to go, and getting outhustled from one end line to the other, Bishop Connolly staged its second straight significant comeback. The Cougars rode suddenly revived defense and offense to defeat Diman Regional 68-61 in Mayflower Athletic Conference boys' basketball on Monday on Peter Goj Court.

Junior guard John Rego scored 26 points and 6-foot-7 center Cooper Creek scored 11 of this 18 points in the final 3:36.

Affer producing 40 points over the game's first 26 minutes, Connolly (7-1) racked up 28 in the last 5:55. The Cougars in their previous game defeated West Bridgewater after trailing by eight points with four minutes to play.

"Once we got our backs to the wall, we responded well," Connolly coach Bill Shea said. "But we have a lot of things to fix. When we play hard and we play well, we're a pretty good team. But when we don't, we're not very good at all. That's two games in a row we've dug ourselves a hole and pulled ourselves out of it. That's not really the way I want to win games."

Through the first three quarters, John Rego scored 19 points and was the only part of the Connolly offense working consistently.

"I was really, really happy about John starting to assert himself offensively," Shea said. "We're trying to get him to do that. He's unselfish to a fault."

Twin brother Peter Rego (11 points) started the comeback from the 54-40 deficit with a 3-pointer, and senior point guard Zachary Mullins followed with a nifty, old-school three-point play off a turnover.

Hitting shots, forcing turnovers and finally not getting battered by Diman's offensive rebounding, the Cougars needed just a tad more than two minutes to go on a 16-2 run, tying the game on the first of Creek's three rapid-fire 3-pointers, with 3:36 to play.

Creek hit his 3s on three straight Connolly possessions for a 62-58 lead with 2:12 to go. He added two free throws and Mullins did likewise for as 66-58 lead with 1:18 to play and completing a 26-4 run.

For Diman (2-6), Ryan Viveiros (12 points on four 3s), Mason Gomes (11 points) and Lyndon Carreiro (11 points) were the top scorers. Chris Lopez added nine and JC King did powerhouse work on the offensive boards.

Diman led 17-16 after one quarter, 33-30 at halftime and 46-40 after three.

"They stepped up their defense, but our guys folded to them and rushed, as opposed to slowing it down," Diman coach Nick Santos said. "You can only call so many timeouts to get that through to them. That's what it came down to. They hit their shots. They were not hitting them early, but they hit them when it counted. And we just turned the ball over and rushed it."

The game's first 26 minute did encourage Santos. "They (Connolly) are a good team. They're one of the better teams in D4. So we can play with anybody, but we can't make those mistakes."

Email Greg Sullivan at gsullivan@heraldnews.com. Follow him @GregSullivanHN.