Men's Basketball offense stalls with 60-59 loss to Fitchburg State
North Adams, MA-- Fitchburg State's Dayne Allen posted 13 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to help lift the visiting Falcons men's basketball team past the MCLA Trailblazers 60-59 in a low scoring affair from the Amsler Campus Center. The Falcons are now 4-11 overall but more importantly move to 2-2 in the league. MCLA drops their third straight contest as they're now 6-9 overall and 1-3 in the conference.
Fitchburg held a ten point lead at 30-20 just before halftime until Dylan Morris-Gray connected from long range to slice the deficit to 30-23 at the half. MCLA would continue to surge at the start of the second half as they posted a 7-0 spurt capped by another bucket from Morris-Gray to tie things up at 30-30.
Fitchburg responded however as Allen scored back to back buckets to grab the momentum back giving the Falcons a narrow lead. MCLA trailed by just one again a few minutes later after a Hayden Bird long ball, but Fitchburg responded with a 7-0 spurt to take command at 43-35 with just over 13 minutes left to play.
Both teams went cold on the offensive end for the next several minutes and with 5:50 left to play, Fitchburg was still clinging to a 52-43 lead. MCLA would claw their way back however over the final few minutes. Bird's layup would pull them within four at 52-48 but Fitchburg's Tayjahn Joyner would knock down a jumper and make one of two at the line to push the margin to 57-51 with under two to play. MCLA made three free throws to get within 57-54 with 43 seconds remaining,
Fitchburg was fouled with 12 seconds remaining and converted the first of two before MCLA's Jojo Garcia would rattle home a three to get within one at 58-57. With MCLA forced to foul, Fitchburg's Mikal Garcia would calmly drain a pair to put the Falcons back up three at 60-57 with just 5 seconds left. MCLA had a chance but Morris-Gray's three was short and they converted a layup at the buzzer to provide the final margin.
Allen was 5-12 shooting and also posted 4 blocked shots in the win for the Falcons. Frederick Siayor led all scorers with 15 points off the bench. The Falcons overcame a 36% shooting night and were just 13-22 from the charity stripe.
MCLA was paced by Morris-Gray's 14 point night. Bird and Noah Yearsley each ended with 12 points. The Trailblazers were hampered by a 32% shooting night and a 9-16 performance at the line.
The Trailblazers host Bridgewater State on Wednesday night in the Campus Center.