WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Shaun McCarthy (Oxford, Mass.) scored a game high 27 points to lead Worcester State to a 90-82 win over Westfield State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game at the Woodward Center on Thursday night.

Worcester (2-17, 1-5 MASCAC) grabs its first conference win of the season, while Westfield slips to 8-11, 2-4 MASCAC.

The Lancers led by as many as 16 points late in the first half, taking a 43-27 lead on a Tucker Llewelyn (Pioneer/Northfield, Mass.) layup with 2:03 left to play. Westfield closed the first half with an 8-1 spurt to trim the Lancer lead to 44-35 at the intermission.

Westfield turned up the defensive pressure to start the second half, and put together a 20-5 run to open the period, leading 55-49 after Austin Joseph (Cardinal Spellman/Rockland, Mass.) dove on the floor for a loose ball on the break and tossed a no-look pass to Josh Pressley (Central/Springfield, Mass.) for a layup with 13:30 to play in the game.

The Lancers regained momentum, recapturing the lead and building a five point lead, 72-67 on a McCarthy three-point play with 6:22 left, but Westfield mustered one more run of their own, tying the game at 72-all on a Joseph three pointer with 4:49 to play.

McCarthy responded with yet another layup with at the 4:22 mark to give Worcester the lead for good.

Will Watkins, Jr. (Oak Hill Acad./Southbridge, Mass.) added 22 points and nine rebounds for Worcester. Bryson Gulley (Kennedy Acad./Mattapan, Mass.) chipped in with 15.

Peter Mafo (Lynn Classical/Lynn, Mass.) led Westfield with 21 points and Moody Bey (Monson/Springfield, Mass.) netted 20. Joseph finished with 14 points. Marcus Collins finished with eight points and 22 rebounds (six short of the 47-year-old record of 28 set by Tim Parker in the 1971 season).

Westfield State will be back in action at home on Saturday, hosting MCLA at 3:00 p.m. Worcester State will travel to Salem State on Saturday.