Westfield State 67, Worcester State 49
Worcester, MA --- The Worcester State men's basketball team fell to the visiting Westfield State College Owls Saturday afternoon in MASCAC men's basketball action by the final score of, 67-49, in Lancer Gymnasium. The loss drops the Lancers to 7-8 (0-2 MASCAC), while Westfield State improves to 11-4 (1-1 MASCAC.)
Westfield State led at the break, 32-27, as Worcester State committed 14 first half turnovers. The Lancers outshot the Owls from the field, 42.9% to 36.7% but gave up the all 6 more times to go along with Westfield State garnering 10 offensive rebounds. Worcester State was led by seniors Will Spont (Bellingham, MA) and Ryan Frassica (Brockton, MA) who each tallied 9 points in the first stanza. Westfield State was paced by Dave Jaehnig (Quincy, MA) and Ryan Mauer (Pittsfield, MA) who each also scored 9 points.
Ryan Testagrossa (Athol, MA) opened the second half with a jumper for the Lancers to cut the deficit to three points, but the Lancers would get no closer. Westfield slowly built their second half lead and ended up with their largest margin to end the game. Worcester State finished with 25 turnovers on the afternoon preventing them from making a serious second half run. The Lancers also struggled from the line shooting 6-of-13, while the Owls enjoyed a 22-of-27 performance from the charity stripe.
Spont finished the night with 17 points for the Lancers followed by Frassica with 11. Mauer and Jaehnig finished one-two in the Owls scoring sheet with 21 and 20 points, respectively. Junior Matt Badjo (Worcester, MA) wreaked havoc all day on the boards as he grabbed 13 rebounds for the visitors.
Worcester State returns to the hardwood on Tuesday when they travel to Framingham State to take on the Rams in conference action. Westfield State will host MASCAC foe Salem State Tuesday evening as well.