Worcester State 84, Becker 80
Worcester, MA --- Junior Maurice Horton (Detroit, MI) tallied 33 points with 10 rebounds and six assists to help lead the Lancers to an wildly entertaining 84-80 victory over Becker this evening at Lancer Gymnasium in non-conference men’s basketball action.
With the win the Lancers improve to 11-10 on the season while the Hawks fall to 13-6. WSC avenges this season's earlier 87-68 setback in the consolation bracket of the Worcester County Classic earlier this year.
Horton notched his 15th double-double in 21 games while he shot 10-for-15 from the floor and went 13-for-13 from the free throw line. Third-year Patrick Hamilton (Templeton, MA) finished with 14 points with six rebounds while sophomore Dave Douillette (Bridgewater, MA) added 10 points.
Senior Travis Sauber (Springfield, MA) led three Hawks in double-figures with a game-best 19 points – with 13 coming in the second half – while he swiped six basketballs. Sophomore Trey Jacobs (Lexington Park, MD) notched 17 points with seven boards while classmate DJ Exum (New London, CT) chipped in with 12 second-stanza points (14 total).
The opening 14 minutes proved to be a close contest with five lead changes and two ties before Worcester State opened up a 33-23 lead with 6:17 left in the period. Becker used a 6-0 spurt to trail 33-29 two minutes later before the Lancers used an 8-0 run to close out the first half leading 41-33.
WSC built on the lead over the periods first three minutes to go up 48-37 before the Hawks scored 10 unanswered points, with six coming off of turnovers, to trail 48-41 with 15:14 remaining. The Lancers responded and went on a 9-1 run to make the score 57-49 just 1½ minutes later.
Becker then outscored Worcester State 17-4 over the next seven minutes to go up 66-61with 7:34 left in the contest. With the Hawks leading 69-64, the Lancers took control of the game with a 13-2 run to take the 77-71 lead for good with 2:42 in regulation.
After Jacobs missed a jumper at 1:16, two Horton layups sandwiched a sophomore Rajai Leggett (New Haven, CT) field goal to bring the score to 81-76 with 25 seconds remaining. Suber then missed a trey with 10 seconds left, but freshman Terrence Favors (Boston, MA) caused a turnover on the inbounds pass, following a timeout, and converted the steal to make the score 82-80. But junior Elijah Sims (Worcester, MA) was immediately fouled and he canned a pair of free throws to put the game out of reach for the final score.
Worcester State connected for a modest 45% from the floor in the first half while Becker shot 48%. The Lancers improved to hit 68% (14-for-21) of their field goal attempts while the Hawks finished with a 58% effort in the final stanza. Becker also converted just one of their 13 three-point attempts for the game.
Becker held a 31-20 advantage in points off of turnovers and a 40-30 edge in the paint while WSC controlled the glass, 30-29.
The Lancers look to gain some ground in the MASCAC standings on Saturday with a 5:30 matchup against Framingham State while the Hawks travel to Lesley for a 4 PM NECC contest.