MCLA Men earn key road victory at Framingham State

Framingham, MA- The MCLA Men's basketball team seems to be finding its stride.  Led by John Jones' double double effort of 22 points and 10 rebounds, the Trailblazers earned a key MASCAC victory over the Framingham State Rams 85-75.  With the win, MCLA evens its MASCAC mark at 5-5 and just a game and a half back of second place Salem State.  The Trailblazers are now 8-14 overall.  The Rams drop to 2-8 in the conference and just 7-15 on the season.

MCLA led wire to wire as they jumped out to a quick 7-0 start and never looked back.  The Trailblazers would extend out to a 12 point first half lead before the Rams battled back to climb within three points at 27-24 with 4:31 left until halftime.  MCLA would then embark on a 7-0 run of their own following a timeout to regain control and take a 34-24 lead.  They would take a 37-29 lead into the locker room.

The Rams would get within five on the opening possession of the second half on a Tim McCarthy triple, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the way.  MCLA gradually built their lead back to double figures and when Paul Maurice knocked down a jumper with 8:51 to play, the Trailblazers held their largest lead at 64-50.  The lead would move to 16 points following a Jones layup that made it 74-58 and Framingham never really threatened from there as MCLA closed out the win.

Jones shot a solid 7-10 from the floor and added four steals for the Trailblazers.  Todd Hunt added 17 points and 6 rebounds, while Maurice (13 points) and Ramon Viches (11 points) were the other Trailblazers in double figures.  Maurice added a team best 5 assists.  MCLA shot a season best 55% from the floor in the win.

The Rams were paced by McCarthy's 18 points which included four three pointers.  Daniel Gould added 14 points, while Joe McCabe finished with 13, but only two after halftime.  George Jordan ended with 11 points and Jaquan Harris had 10.  The Rams were held to 37% shooting.

MCLA will compete in a non conference home game Thursday night at 7pm against Keene State.