MCLA Men hold off Fitchburg State 76-73
Fitchburg, MA- The MCLA Men's basketball team got a much needed road win, defeating Fitchburg State 76-73 Tuesday night. With the win, the Trailblazers are in the drivers seat for a first round bye in the conference playoffs as they stand alone in second at 7-4. MCLA is 16-7 overall. Fitchburg drops to 4-18 overall, 1-10 in the MASCAC.
MCLA placed four players in double figures to earn the much needed win. Jon Greenberg collected 15 points and 9 rebounds. The nine rebounds leave him just 2 shy of 1,000 for his career. Chris Harris added 14 points and 9 boards as well, while Ramon Viches had 12 points for the Trailblazers. Tyrell Mosley added 11 points in the win.
Senior Elliot Knower (Baldwinville, Mass./Narragansett) registered a game-high 18 points to lead Fitchburg by going 7-of-13 from the field, while posting a game-best nine rebounds. Junior Jeremy Kimber (Fitchburg, Mass./Fitchburg) was also solid with 17 points, while senior Robert Hopkins (East Hartford, Conn./RHAM) and junior Rolffi Canela (Perth Amboy, N.J./Cardinal McCarrick) finished with 13 and ten points respectively.
Fitchburg State jumped out to an early seven point half-time lead, using a pair of ten point first half efforts from Hopkins and Knower. The duo combined for 8-of-13 shooting in the first half, leading the Falcons in 8-2 run midway through the period. Harris led the MCLA first half attack, hitting 4-of-7 from the field for nine points and three boards.
In the second half, MCLA turned up the heat, chipping away at the Fitchburg State lead in the first two minutes of play. Harris opened the stanza with a shot from long range, before Viches made it a one basket game with a lay-up in the paint.
Fitchburg State held off the Trailblazers, regaining a six point margin on a jumper by Kimber, but MCLA poured on the offense, using a 6:27, 18-8 run to notch a six point lead at the 3:49 mark (67-61). Greenburg sparked the MCLA with five points in the rally, while Viches added a pair of buckets down low.
The Falcons continued to threaten, knotting the score at 70-70 on a three by Sean Sullivan (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) and a pair of free-throws by Kimber, but MCLA used some clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch to secure its seventh conference victory. Greenberg converted back-to-back free-throw attempts to move the score to 72-70 before Brendan Kordana (Adams, Mass./Hoosac Valley) added a trio of charity shots to seal the win.
Fitchburg State (4-18, 1-10 MASCAC) will be in action again on Saturday as it travels to Westfield State at 3 p.m. MCLA (16-7, 7-4 MASCAC) will host Bridgewater State University on Saturday at 3 p.m.