Men's Basketball can't keep pace with Owls, fall 83-57
North Adams, MA-- Westfield State's Brendan Hamilton scored 21 points and pulled down 9 rebounds to lead the visiting Owls past the MCLA Trailblazers 83-57 this afternoon in MASCAC action. The Owls (15-4) avenged an earlier loss to MCLA as they are now 5-2 in the conference. MCLA (6-10) is now 1-4 in league play.
The Owls never trailed in this one as they took control early. A quick 6-0 burst opened the game and a few minutes later when Kuany Teng buried a three, it was 18-7. The Owls would increase the margin to nineteen at 40-21 with 5:59 left til halftime before MCLA made a little run. The Trailblazers would get within 15 at halftime and then tighten things up further in the opening moments of the second half.
After Westfield led 46-31 at the break, MCLA would get within eight points at 50-42 on a Quentin Gittens drive to the hoop, still with 15:50 left to play. After trading baskets, the Owls would respond with a 9-2 surge to take a 61-46 advantage capped by a jumper from Gerry McManus. MCLA would get within eleven on another Gittens bucket, but four straight points from Kumar Brown put the game out of reach. The Owls led comfortably the rest of the contest as both teams subbed frequently.
Hamilton was 7-13 shooting in the win to lead all scorers with his 21 point night. Teng was excellent off the bench with 16 points on 6-8 shooting. No other Owls were in double figures but nine others cracked the scoring column. Westfield shot 46% in the win.
MCLA was paced by Noah Yearsley's team best 20 point effort. He was 7-19 from the floor. Gittens scored 15 points in the loss for MCLA.
The Trailblazers could not overcome 17 turnovers and a 31% shooting night.
MCLA will play on Wednesday night when they head to Fitchburg State.