Men's Basketball can't hold halftime lead, fall to Falcons 67-52

Fitchburg, MA- The Fitchburg State Men's basketball team outscored MCLA 39-19 in the second half as they rallied and won going away in defeating the Trailblazers 67-52 in MASCAC action this evening.  With the win, the Falcons improve to 10-3 overall and move to 2-0 in conference play.  MCLA drops to 4-10 overall, and is now 1-2 in the league.

The Falcons placed three in double figures led by Keyon Armstrong's 18 points.  Givaughn Jones added 17 while Kwame Lee notched 14.  The Fitchburg defense struggled in the opening half allowing MCLA to shoot 54%, however they held the Trailblazers to just 20% shooting in the closing surge.

The Trailblazers led for much of the first half and they took a 33-28 lead into halftime.  When Paul Maurice drilled a three pointer to open the final twenty minutes, MCLA had their largest lead at 36-28.  The lead was then 38-30 after trading baskets.

Fitchburg chipped away, but when MCLA's Khalil Paul made a bucket, they still led 42-36 with 13:41 left to play.  From there, the Falcons would rip off a 17-0 run over the next eight minutes to grab a commanding 56-42 lead.  Armstrong was clutch in the spurt as he drilled a trio of three pointers.  MCLA would never recover as they could only get as close as ten points the rest of the way.  

Paul led MCLA with 10 points, as he was the only Trailblazer in double figures.  Isshiah Coleman ended with 6 points, but collected 5 blocked shots.  Todd Hunt finished with 9 points, while Ruben DelRosario had 8.  Neither player scored after halftime though.

MCLA is back in action on Saturday when they travel to Framingham State resuming conference play.