Worcester, MA --- Freshman Paul Brooks (Arlington, MA) and senior Dane Jobst (Athol, MA) both finished with double-doubles as they helped pace third-seeded Worcester State to a 71-51 win over #6 Framingham State in the quarterfinal round of the MASCAC Men's Basketball Tournament this evening at the Laska Gymnasium.
With the triumph the Lancers (12-13) have now won nine of their last 10 games and they move on to the league tournament semifinals to take on second-seeded Bridgewater State on Thursday at 7:30. The Rams bow out of the six-team playoff with a final record of 8-18.
Brooks paced the Blue and Gold with a game-high 19 points, 13 rebounds and a trio of blocks while Jobst pulled down his 18th double-double in 25 games with 15 points and 11 boards to go along with four assists.
Junior Brendan Rios (Easthampton, MA) finished 6-for-10 from the field with four trifectas for a final line of 16 points for the Lancers.
Freshman Dan Gould (Quincy, MA) chipped in with a team-best 10 points to lead Framingham State offensively. Junior Patrick Cuff (Medway, MA) also gobbled up 16 caroms in the losing effort with eight offensive boards and his second-highest rebounding sum of the campaign.
Classmate George Jordan (Worcester, MA/Marlboro) and freshman Jaquan Harris (Randolph, MA) combined for 15 points for the visitors.
The Lancers jumped out to a 14-4 advantage seven minutes into the contest and led 23-8 with 7:07 remaining in the opening stanza.
Framingham State though used an 11-2 spurt to trail by 25-17 at the 4:18 mark as sophomore Tim McCarthy (Wilmington, MA) and junior Ronnie DeBarros (New Bedford, MA) keyed the run with trifectas.
Worcester State came right back with an 8-0 skein to open up their largest margin in the contest (33-17) with just over 90 ticks on the clock on the back of a three-point play by junior Charles Gunter (Boston, MA/New Mission) and settled for the 35-22 advantage at the intermission.
The Rams trimmed their deficit to eight points just three minutes into the second half, but that was as close as they got the rest of the way. Worcester State was sparked by a strong effort from beyond the arc and hit a 46 percent clip in the stanza (12-for-26) to help maintain the double-digit lead which sealed up the victory.
Worcester State finished shooting 40 percent for the contest (24-for-60) and 39 percent from beyond the arc for the contest (7-for-18). WSU also missed 10 free throws and ended with leads in rebounds (55-45), points in the paint (32-22) and transition points (19-8).
Framingham State connected on just 22 percent of their shots overall and only sank five of their 21 bids from three point land (24 percent). The Rams led in offensive boards (23-16), but were edged in second chance points by the hosts, 21-17.
WSU is now 3-1 against Framingham State all-time in the tournament and they advance to their 16th semifinals in the 24-year history of the conference tournament. The Lancers are also 12-5 all-time as the third seed.
The two squads combined for 25 swipes, 38 miscues and 46 fouls while shooting 30-for-49 for the contest from the charity stripe (61 percent).
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