Owls Grounded at Worcester

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Worcester State sophomore Aaron Nkrumah (Worcester, Mass.) totaled a game-high 23 points as the Lancers used a 58-point second half to upend Westfield State 83-60 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game from John P. Brissette Court in Worcester, Mass. on Saturday afternoon.

The Owls drop to 2-2 in conference play while the Lancers improve 3-0 in the MASCAC.

Worcester jumped out to an early six-point lead after a made three from Zion Hendrix (Charlotte, N.C.) and a jumper from Nkrumah. The Owls responded out of a timeout as a pair of layups from Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass.) and a three-point make by Jeremy Remigio (Santo Domingo, DR) put the Owls in front 16-15 with 10:25 left in the first half.

Both teams would trade buckets down the back half of the period with Remigio finishing the scoring for either side with a layup to put Westfield up 29-25 heading into the break.

In the second half, the Lancers put together a strong offensive half, beginning the period on a 7-0 run to regain the lead by three. Westfield's first basket of the half came in emphatic fashion as JT Thompson (Columbia, S.C.) threw down a massive alley-oop dunk over a Worcester defender off an inbounds feed by Gerry McManus (Hudson, Mass.) to bring the deficit to one.

Westfield tied the game on a three from Brendan Keaveny (Quincy, Mass.), then briefly held a one-point lead after an Eric Johnson (Houston, Texas) jumper, but Worcester found another gear to their offense, scoring on five straight offensive possessions to extend their lead to 56-48 with 9:34 remaining in the game. The Lancers lead would push into double digits with the Owls unable to draw within ten points after consecutive triples by Ryan Rubenskas (Bridgewater, Mass.) and Sam Dion (Barre, Mass.) drove the Worcester lead up to 15 points with six minutes left in regulation.

Worcester finished the second half by scoring 58 points, shooting 61.8% from the field while burying eight of 12 three-pointers in the period.

Thompson was the Owls leading scorer in the game, collecting 12 points with Hamilton and Keaveny each recording ten points.

The Lancers had four players produce double-figure scoring totals as Hendrix (19 points), Rubenskas (12 points) and Dion (10 points) joined Nkrumah as their leading scorers.

Westfield State will stay on the road for their next matchup as the Owls travel to Bridgewater State for a MASCAC game on Wednesday at 5:30 P.M.