ONEONTA, N.Y. – The Worcester State men's basketball team reached the 100-point plateau in regulation for the first time since 2004 as the Lancers defeated SUNY Cobleskill 104-66 in the consolation game of the Quality Inn Tip-Off Tournament hosted by SUNY Oneonta.
Worcester State (2-2) reached triple digits in 2016 at MCLA and 2012 at Trinity, but both of those games went into overtime. The last time they did it in regulation was the final game of the 2004 season, a 100-46 win against Becker College.
Four players scored in double-figures for the Lancers, led by 20 points from Sam Dion (Barre, Mass.) and the first double-digit scoring game for freshman Orlando Thompson (Boston, Mass.), who scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench.
Worcester led by 26 at halftime behind 9 points from Dion, who was 3-6 from three-point land in the first half. Dion finished the night 7-12 from the floor and 6-11 from three-point land. Chris Cardoso (Jamaica Plain, Mass.) added 19 points, 15 of them in the second half, and five assists, and Erik Bjorn (Holden, Mass.) had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Senior Juwan Malone (Brooklyn, NY) was the Tigers leading scorer with 18 points. Malone rained in 3 3-pointers and shot 7-16 from the field. Freshman Sharaim Best (Valley Stream, NY) added 17 points on 6-10 shooting with 2 assists for Cobleskill.
Trailing 8-2 early in the game, the Lancers went on a 29-3 run to take the lead 31-11 with 6:37 left to play in the first half, and never looked back. They shot 50% from the floor, while Cobleskill (0-3) was held to just 31.6%. Worcester State had a massive rebounding edge (63-34), including 13-7 on the offensive glass.
All 14 Lancers who took the court grabbed at least one rebound. Ryan Rubenskas (Bridgewater, Mass.) had nine to go with six points, one assist, a steal and a block. Otis Wheeler (Worcester, Mass.) had six rebounds, eight points and three dimes of the bench. Paul Roche (North Attleboro, Mass.) scored 9 points on 3-4 shooting from the field.
Next up for the Lancers (2-2) is their home opener, next Wednesday against Nichols at 7:00 PM.