MCLA falls to Framingham on Senior Day 88-82

North Adams, MA- The MCLA Men's basketball team celebrated five seniors this afternoon, however they could not close out visiting Framingham State, eventually falling to the Rams 88-82.  With the setback, MCLA falls to 9-13 overall, 3-7 in the league.  MCLA's Jon Greenberg (Antwerp, Belguim) led all scorers with 23 points and 13 rebounds.

The physical contest saw a total of 46 fouls between the teams.  The difference in the game turned out to be the Rams free throw shooting as they shot 82% from the line (28-34) compared to 52% for the home team (14-27).

MCLA came out with a lot of emotion as their seniors, Derek Gibbons (Rochester, MA), Mike Perreault (Whitinsville, MA), Joey Paoletti (Orange, MA), and Pat Ryan (Woodstock, NY) came out firing.  A Gibbons putback with 14:41 to play in the first half put MCLA ahead 15-7.  The basket started a 12-4 run giving the hosts their largest lead of the night at 25-11 capped off by a Brenden Kordana (Adams, MA) three pointer with 10:48 to play in the half.

The visitors would chip away and finally trim the margin to four at the break, 41-37.

Early in the second half with the score at 46-39 in favor of the Trailblazers, Framingham used a 9-2 run to pull even at 48 on Bill Carey's three pointer.  MCLA would respond though, using a 9-2 spurt to pull ahead 57-50 with just under 12 to play.

The Rams once again answered, this time using an 8-0 run to capture their first lead of the night at 58-57 on senior Josue Almodovar's layin.  MCLA would again take a short lived lead, but the visitors reclaimed the edge at 71-69 on a pair of Almodovar free throws.  MCLA would battle back to tie the game at 75, but the Rams ran off six straight points to take an insurmountable lead. 

Framingham would go 6 of 7 from the line to ice the game.

Almodovar led the Rams with 22 points before fouling out.  Framingham placed three others in double figures: Darious Yarnell (18), Brendan Carter (14), and Royce Veal (12). 

Aside from Greenberg, MCLA was paced by Perreault's 15 points, including three from beyond the arc.

The Men will wrap up the home slate on Tuesday when they host Fitchburg State at 7:30pm