Second Seeded MCLA, Fifth Seeded Fitchburg State To Meet For 2013 MASCAC Men's Basketball Championship
Second-seeded MCLA and fifth-seeded Fitchburg State will meet for the 2013 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship on Saturday afternoon, as the Trailblazers and Falcons advanced to the title game with respective league semi-final round victories over third-seeded Salem State and top-seeded Westfield State Thursday evening
Click here for Westfield State-Fitchburg State box score
Click here for MCLA-Salem State box score
Courtesy Westfield State Sports Information
Fitchburg State 68, Westfield State 61
WESTFIELD, Mass. - Junior guard
Mike Ingram-Rubin scored a game-high 26 points and senior forward
Tom Henneberry had 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds to lead
Fitchburg State University to a 68-61 upset victory over Westfield
State University in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic
Conference (MASCAC) Tournament semi-finals on Thursday, Feb.
21.
Fitchburg, the No. 5 seed with a 15-10 overall record, advances to
the MASCAC championship game where faces MCLA on Saturday, Feb. 23,
at 1:00 p.m. in North Adams.
No. 2 seed MCLA defeated No. 3 seed Salem State, 77-59, in the
other semi-final game. Fitchburg split its season series with MCLA,
including a 65-57 home victory over the Trailblazers on Feb.
12.
Westfield, 21-5 and the MASCAC regular season champion, had
defeated Fitchburg twice during the regular season – 82-55
and an 81-67 home victory last Saturday.
The Owls, however, struggled offensively against the tight Falcon
man-to-man defense in the tourney semi-finals and only scored four
points in the opening 10 minutes.
Sparked by Ingram-Rubin’s 17 first-half points, the Falcons
led at halftime, 31-22. Ingram-Rubin drained four 3-point baskets
in the first half as Fitchburg led 15-4 at the 10:07 mark. The
Falcons’ biggest lead in the first half was 13 points, 22-9,
following an Ingram-Rubin three-ball at the 5:03 mark.
Fitchburg took its biggest lead of 16 points, 40-24, following
another Ingram-Rubin 3-pointer with 17:26 remaining. But the
Fitchburg sharpshooter was hit with a technical for taunting the
large and boisterous crowd following the 3-pointer, and Westfield
began mounting a spirited comeback.
The Owls’ trademark tenacious full court defense led them to
an 18-4 run over the next four minutes to pull within two points,
44-42, following a steal-layup by Jordan Santiago with 13:47
remaining.
Fitchburg withstood the fierce comeback, however, and quickly
built a 51-42 lead at the 12:15 mark.
The Owls maintained their intense pressure and finally tied the
score, 59-59, on a Matt Devine 12-foot jumper with 1:49
remaining.
Fitchburg then won the possession game in the closing minutes.
Falcon 6-8 senior center Zach Valliere received the ball in the
paint and scored on a turnaround over Devine for a 61-59 Fitchburg
lead with 1:24 remaining.
On the Owls’ possession, Devine missed a 12-footer and
Henneberry grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He made one free
throw for a 62-59 score with 54 seconds remaining.
Henneberry then came up with a big steal when he stripped the ball
from Devine in the low post and passed the ball to Ingram-Rubin for
a layup to give the Falcons a 64-59 lead with 34 seconds remaining.
Westfield missed two 3-point attempts in the final 20 seconds while
Fitchburg was 4 for 6 from the foul line.
In a key statistic, Fitchburg was 8 for 19 from 3-point range,
including a 6 for 11 effort from Ingram-Rubin. Westfield,
meanwhile, was only 2 for 16 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Senior Lee Vazquez scored a team-high 22 points to move into fifth
place on the Westfield’s all-time scoring list with 1,521
points. But the high-scoring senior guard was hounded the entire
game by the Falcon defense and made only 8 of 26 field goal
attempts, including 2 of 12 3-pointers.
Valliere was Fitchburg’s only other player in double figures
with 11 points. The Falcons shot 40 percent from the field,
including their 42 percent performance from 3-point land.
Westfield forced 19 Fitchburg turnovers. The Owls only had 10
turnovers but they only shot 32 percent from field.
Devine had another double-double effort with 15 points and 10
rebounds. The 6-7 senior center from Pembroke also blocked five
shots; he is currently ranked second nationally in blocked shots
and led the nation in rejections last year.
Sophomore forward Grant Cooper finished with 14 points, eight
rebounds and a game-high five steals before fouling out with 2:14
remaining.
Courtesy MCLA Sports Information
MCLA 77, Salem State 59
North Adams, MA- The second seeded
MCLA Trailblazers swarmed the third seeded Salem State Vikings in
the second half as they pulled away for a convincing 77-59 victory
in the semifinals of the MASCAC championships. With the win, the
Trailblazers will now host the MASCAC championship game on
Saturday. Salem ends their season at 16-11.
MCLA will host Fitchburg State on Saturday. The Falcons
defeated the top seeded Westfield State Owls 68-61 in Westfield
this evening. The Trailblazers and Falcons split the season
series with each team winning on their home court.
John Jones had a game high 23 points to lead MCLA on 8-12 shooting. Paul Maurice was the only other Trailblazer in double figures finishing with 11 points. The Trailblazers doubled up Salem in the second half (40-20) and held the Vikings to just 7-35 shooting (20%) in the decisive half.
MCLA trailed 39-37 at halftime, but
after a few adjustments, clamped down on the visitors. Trailblazer
Bilal Shabazz' drive tied the score at 39, but Salem's Bryan Ortiz
drilled a three to put the Vikings ahead 42-39 with 18:46 left to
play. That's where the Vikings went ice cold. Over the next eleven
minutes, Salem could only muster a free throw. The dry spell
allowed MCLA to go on a 18-1 run that changed the course of the
game.
A Maurice three started the run and a Jones layup gave MCLA the
lead for good at the 17:49 mark. Another triple from Maurice
gave the Trailblazers a five point lead. Salem meanwhile,
couldn't buy a basket. At one point, they missed 17
consecutive shots as MCLA steadily built their lead until Justin
Nieves finally connected in the paint. By that time, MCLA
led
57-45 with under eight to play.
Salem had hope after Hanell Valez drained his second three pointer
of the night to pull the Vikings within nine at 57-48, however MCLA
would respond with an 8-2 to essentially put the game out of reach.
The Vikings would get no closer than 14 the rest of the way
and MCLA actually led by as many as 20 points late in the
contest.
Salem State got off to a fast start jumping out to a 12-3 lead just four minutes into the contest. MCLA would crawl back into the contest behind Jones. He would score 13 straight points in a 3:30 stretch to pull MCLA within four at 20-16. After Ruben DelRosario drained a pair at the charity stripe, MCLA trailed by just a pair but the Vikings always had an answer.
SSU's Trey Morin drilled a three
from the top of the circle and Hamed Akanni hit one of two at the
line to extend the Viking lead back to six at 24-18. MCLA
would trim the deficit to a pair of two occasions, only to see
Salem respond. The Trailblazers would finally knot the score with
just 2:59 left until halftime when freshman Anthony Barbosa
completed a rare four point play, making in 32-32. MCLA would
take their only lead of the half at 36-34 on a Paul Maurice layup,
however the Vikings would outscore MCLA 5-1 to close out the half
making
it 39-37 in favor of Salem State at halftime.
The Vikings were paced by Tavone Wynder's 11 points. Velez
would finish with 10 points, but only three after halftime.
Salem was hurt by 22 turnovers and only shot 29% for the game
(20-67).
The Trailblazers were aided by a strong showing at the free throw
line. After only shooting 61% in the regular season, MCLA connected
on 23-27 shots from the stripe (85%). The hosts also overcame
a rough start on the glass to hold a slim 41-39 edge in
rebounding.
