Worcester State 79, Fitchburg State 78
Worcester, MA --- Junior Ryan Testagrossa (Athol, MA) netted a career high 21 points with six assists and four rebounds to help lead Worcester State to a 79-78 overtime victory over Fitchburg State this evening in MASCAC men's basketball action at the Lancer Gymnasium.
The Lancers, who snap a three game skid, improve to 11-12 overall and 3-6 in the conference while the Falcons slip to 7-15 and 2-7 in the MASCAC.
Senior Maurice Horton (Detroit, MI/Burncoat) recorded his tenth double-double of the season with 14 points and a game-best 10 rebounds while junior Dave Douillette (Bridgewater, MA) and freshman Monte Goodwin (Boston, MA/Belmont) combined for 17 points off the bench. Sophomore Jamaal Atkins (Webster, MA) also added 9 points and 8 boards.
Junior Robert Hopkins (East Hartford, CT) paced the Falcons with 20 points with six made three pointers while senior Colin London (Worcester, MA/Doherty) notched 18 points with eight caroms and five steals. Fourth-year Tim Graham (Arlington, MA) chipped in with 13 points as freshman Blake Shelton (Westminster, MA) recorded 11 points and four steals.
After two ties and a pair of lead changes, Fitchburg State used a 10-2 run to open up a 19-11 advantage at 10:27. WSC got as close as five twice, but the Falcons led at the intermission 30-23.
Graham opened the second stanza with a layup to push the FSC's lead to 32-23 before the Lancers scored nine straight points to pull ahead 34-32 at 16:17. Consecutive trey's by Hopkins put the Falcons on top 38-34, but the lead would be short lived as WSC would outscore the visitors 13-2 to take a 47-40 edge with 10:51 remaining.
With Worcester State up 49-42, the Falcons would go on a 9-2 spurt to knot the game 51-51, but WSC got the lead back with a three pointer by Testagrossa with 6:43 left. The two teams would continue to score points as the Lancers maintained no more than a five point cushion for the next three minutes of play.
Up 61-56, Graham poured in five straight points to knot the score, 61-61, with 1:56 left. The Lancers would go 6-for-7 from the charity stripe over the two minutes, but London kept Fitchburg State in the game with a pair of layups.
With WSC up 67-65, Horton hit the back end of a double bonus opportunity to put Worcester State ahead by three, but the Falcons received some heroics from third-year Rolffi Canela (Perth Amboy, NJ) who hit a trifecta at the top of the arc to send the game into the extra session.
Horton began the period with a lay-up, but FSC outscored WSC 9-2 to go climb ahead 77-72 at the 2:00 mark. An Atkins lay-up cut the lead to three before Graham hit a free throw shot to put FSC up by four (78-74) with 1:10 remaining.
The Lancers offense tried to slice the deficit to two with play for Horton in the post, but he was covered well by the Falcons defense. Horton then dished out the ball to an open Douillette who sank a three-pointer with 57 seconds left.
Following a London missed jumper on their next possession, WSC sophomore Raynaldi Voyard (Leominster, MA) was fouled at midcourt. Voyard sank both of his attempts to put the Lancers ahead 79-78 with 26 seconds remaining.
Fitchburg State then missed a pair of three point attempts before calling a timeout. Coming out of the break FSC tried to run a play, but time ran out as the Lancer defense did an outstanding job of not allowing a shot in the final 10 seconds of overtime.
The Falcons finished the contest shooting 39 percent from three point land as they connected for 13-for-33. After shooting 30 percent in the opening half (10-for-33) WSC responded to connect for 71 percent from the floor in the second period (17-for-24).
Worcester State out rebounded the visitors 39-33 while the two squads were even in offensive rebounds (13-13). WSC also held slight edges in points in the paint (34-28) and second chance points (16-14) as FSC led in points off of turnovers (19-14).
Both teams continue MASCAC play on Saturday. Worcester State will travel to Bridgewater State, who is unbeaten in league play at 9-0, for a 6 PM tip-off while the Falcons entertain Salem State at 1 o'clock.