After winning their respective quarterfinal contests on Tuesday, the Bridgewater State Bears and Worcester State Lancers are moving on to the MASCAC Men's Basketball Tournament semifinals which will be played on Thursday.

#3 Bridgewater State 65, #6 Framingham State 41 Box Score

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Third-seeded Bridgewater State University posted a 65-41 victory over #6 Framingham State University in the opening round of the 2017 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletics Conference (MASCAC) Men's Basketball Tournament on Tuesday evening at the Tinsley Center.

The host Bears (15-11) advance to the MASCAC Tournament semifinal round for the 11^th time in the last 12 years and will travel to second-seeded Salem State University on Thursday night to take on the Vikings. Game time is slated for 7:00 PM.

The Rams end the season with an overall record of 7-19.

Senior guard Fawaz Mass (Taunton, Mass.) led the way for Bridgewater State with a game-high 16 points to go along with eight rebounds. Junior guard Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) added nine points and six boards, while senior forward Greg Romanko (Mansfield, Mass.) checked in with nine points and five rebounds.

Senior forward Timothy Mangano (Winchester, Mass.) paced Framingham with 14 points, while junior forwardBertholyn Alexandre (Hyde Park, Mass.) posted a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Bears opened the game with a 15-2 run as they held the Rams to just two points over the first five-plus minutes of the contest. Mass and DeAndrade each scored six points during the spurt.

After the Rams cut the deficit to seven (17-10), the Bears reeled off 12 unanswered points to take a commanding 29-10 lead with 7 ½ minutes remaining in the period. Back-to-back Romanko three-pointers and a Mass trifecta highlighted the run.

Later in the period, another Romanko three gave Bridgewater its biggest lead of the stanza, 37-14, as the clock ticked under a minute.

An Alexandre trifecta at the buzzer closed out the scoring in the half as the Rams trailed 37-17 at the break.

The BSU defense was impressive over the opening 20 minutes as the Bears' forced seven turnovers and limited the Rams to just 25% (5-20) shooting.

Mass led all scorers in the first half with 11 points on 5 of 6 shooting. Romanko scored all nine of his points as he connected on 3 of 4 three-point attempts. Mangano paced the visitors with seven points.

In the second half, the Rams were able to pull to within 13 (43-30) following an Alexandre layup with just over 11 minutes remaining. The Bears, however, answered with a 9-2 run to take control of the game and Framingham never threatened the rest of the way.

Bridgewater shot 42% (23-55) for the game including 9-for-21 (43%) from behind the arc. The Bears won the battle of the boards with a with a 43-29 rebounding advantage (14-6 offensive), and held the edge in second chance points (18-4) and points off turnovers (14-3). The BSU bench also outscored the Framingham reserves, 21-9, with senior guard Keyon Armstrong (Brockton, Mass.) leading the way with eight points off the pine.

Framingham bounced back with 41% (9-22) shooting in the second half, but shot just 33% (14-42) overall for the game.

#5 Worcester State 71, #4 Westfield State 63 Box Score

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Senior guard Aaron Anniballi (Milford, Mass.) scored 18 points including a key late three-pointer to help lift #5 seed Worcester State to a mild first-round upset over #4 Westfield State in the opening round of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament at the Woodward Center on Tuesday night,
 
With the win, Worcester will advance to play at #1 seed Fitchburg State on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
 
Westfield the game tied at 56-all with a Jesus Sanchez (Holderness/Springfield, Mass.) layup off of an inbounds play under their own basket with 4:48 to play.   Worcester answered with an Anniballi drive to make it 58-56, then two trips later Anniballi banked in a three-pointer late in the shot clock with 2:56 to play to give the Lancers.
 
Worcester led 63-58 when Ryan DiBernardo (Cathedral/Springfield, Mass.) missed a three-pointer from the corner with 40 seconds to play, but Lancers senior center Paul Brooks (Putnam Science/Arlington, Mass.) grabbed the offensive rebound, his 17^th carom of the game to control possession.  Worcester hit its free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.
 
The Lancers out-rebounded the Owls 48-29, and made 17-of-19 free throws while the Owls were just 5-11 from the sin stripe.
 
Worcester finished with five players in double figures in scoring, as guard Cory Gatta (Tantasqua/Sturbridge, Mass.) added 15, Cal Howes (Maynard, Mass.) 12, and Brooks scored 11 points and blocked five shots to go with his 17 rebounds.  DeBernardo netted 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds.  The Lancers improve to 9-17 with the win.
 
Westfield was led by 18 points and five assists for sophomore point guard Peter Mafo (Lynn Classical/Lynn, Mass.). Mafo drained 4-of-5 three pointers on the evening.   Senior Jose Allen (Amherst, Mass.) added 10 points, senior center Shane Pasquantonio (Ashland, Mass.) added 10 points and eight rebounds, and Sanchez finished with nine points and four assists.   Sanchez finishes a fine four year career for the Owls with 1,203 points, good for 14^th on Westfield State's all time list, and 105 games played, tying him for the second most in school history.
 
Westfield finishes its season at 10-15.
 
In the first half, Worcester led by as many as 11 points, last at 30-19 on a Jeremy Bacon (Hopedale/Milford, Mass.) layup.   Westfield responded with a 12-0 run, including eight straight from Mafo on a drive and back to back three pointers that gave Westfield a 31-30 lead.  Howes hit a three-pointer with three seconds left in the opening half that gave Worcester a 35-33 lead at the intermission.
 
The two teams were playing for the second time in four days. The Owls beat the Lancers 80-60 on Saturday in the final regular season game for both teams.

Releases courtesy of Bridgewater State and Westfield State Sports Information