SALEM, Va. – The Worcester State University men's basketball team dropped their first road game of the season as they fell to Roanoke 78-60 in the opening round of the Dick Leftwich Tip-Off Tournament Friday (Nov. 18) evening.

The first two minutes of the game was an even battle between the two. However, in the next 10 minutes of play, the Maroons managed to double their lead at 20-10 on points from Joey Miller (Yorktown, Va.). Roanoke's John Caldwell (Spartanburg, S.C.) gained some momentum as he made two three's and C.J Miles (Richmond, Va.) put numbers up on the board to extend the Maroon's lead to 14 with seven minutes remaining in the first half. With seven minutes to go in the first half, Worcester went on a 17-7 run and closed the half with a three pointer from Jamal Mustapha (Worcester, Mass.) to sharpen the score at 37-34 in the Maroon's favor.

Roanoke came out with some force in the second half and jumped ahead 55-38 in the first seven minutes of play. Worcester saw shots from a variation of players, but however struggled to close the gap and the Maroons saw their largest lead of the game with 2:09 remaining in the game at 75-55.

Worcester State's Mustapha led the Lancers with a team-best 17 points going 8-15 from the field. Marquez McKreith-Collins (Springfield, Mass.) also scored double digit figures with 10 points. Mickey Lyons (Burlington, Mass.) led the squad with a game-best seven rebounds, while Jeremy Bacon (Milford, Mass.) notched two steals in the game.

For the Maroon's, four players scored in double digits as Caldwell led the team with 20. Miles scored 16 points, Miller registered 14, and Eli Sumpter (Charlottesville, Va.) went 4-for-6 from the field with 10 points and a game-high five assists.

The Lancers had more scoring opportunities as they took 59 shots to Roanoke's 55 shots. However the Maroon's field goal percentage was 52.7% compared to Worcester's 42.5%.

The Lancers will resume play tomorrow in their final matchup at the Dick Leftwich Tip-Off Tournament.