Westfield, MA – Tournament MVP Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass./Tech) grabbed 26 rebounds and scored 16 points, leading Westfield State men's basketball to an 80-66 win over Worcester State in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference title game on Saturday afternoon at the Woodward Center.
Westfield (22-4) wins its second straight conference title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
In the first half of play, both teams competed at a high level, with seven lead changes taking place early in the game. Kuany Teng (Manchester, N.H.) started the scoring for Westfield with a three that had the capacity crowd roaring in the first few possessions of play.
Sam Dion (Barre, Mass/Wachussett) had a strong first half for the Lancers, hitting two three-pointers, with one giving Worcester a lead, 12-11 at the 12-minute mark.
Worcester's Cory Oliver (Maynard, Mass.) hit a three with 8:04 left in the first half to lead 18-16, but that would be the Lancers' last lead of the contest.
Westfield stepped up defensively, with back-to-back blocks coming from Teng, and Joseph Meade (Westfield, Mass.), and a steal from Meesha Ohradka (Feeding Hills, Mass.) which all led to baskets for the Owls, giving them a 20-18 lead with about seven minutes to go in the first half.
Hamilton, who had 13 rebounds in the first half, followed the next possession with an offensive rebound and bucket putting the Owls up four. The Owls defense was able to get a shot clock violation at 4:26, which caused a roar of excitement from the home team crowd, but the Lancers still managed to keep it close. Chris Cardoso (Jamaica Plain, Mass./Natick) hit a big three for the Lancers and then Erik Bjorn (Holden, Mass./Wachussett) came through for a layup, cutting the Owls lead to only one point, 26-25.
Kumar Brown (Enfield, CT) scored back to back possessions to give Westfield a 30-25 lead with only three minutes to go in the half, when Jeremy Remigio (Santo Domingo D.R. / Providence RI Central) found a lane to the rim for an and-1 layup and three-point play giving the Owls a 33-25 lead.
Westfield led at the half, 35-29. Westfield's bench outscored Worcester's 17-8 in the first half.
At the start of the second half, Westfield went on a 7-0 run, pounding the ball inside, giving the Owls a 42-29 lead after a Hamilton free throw. Dion finally hit a three-pointer to break Westfield's run, scoring the Lancers first points of the half at the 16:40 mark.
Westfield's JT Thompson (Columbia, S.C. / Dutch Fork) hit a pull-up jumper, and a then back-to-back contested threes to make the score 52-34, and causing Worcester to call a timeout with 13:27 on the clock. The Owls extended the run out of the half to 17-5, and effectively salted the game away.
From that point forward, the Owls maintained a double-digit lead, as the Lancers would get as close as 13 points.
Westfield's Justin Rennis (Springfield, Mass./Sabis) had a big dunk which electrified the Woodward Center at 3:30, increasing the score to 74-56. Rennis then bottomed a pull up jumper at the two minute mark, followed by Gerry McManus (Hudson, Mass./Assabet) with an aggressive drive to the basket to ice the game, increasing lead to 19 with the score, 80-61.
Hamilton finished with an outstanding, 16 points, and 26 rebounds, just two rebounds shy of the school record. Hamilton entered the game ranked second in the nation in NCAA Division III with 14.7 rebounds per game. JT Thompson was second-leading scorer for the Owls, finishing with 14 points, while shooting 3-5 from three. Rennis finished with 12 points off 4-6 shooting with three assists.
McManus dished out a game-high seven assists and Remigio would continue to distribute off the bench, recording six helpers while adding eight points.
Dion paced the Lancers with 15 points and Bjorn followed him with 12 points and six rebounds. Senior Tyler Spencer (Pembroke, Mass.) was the third Lancer in double figures, posting ten points. Worcester's season comes to a close with a 16-12 overall record.
The Owls shot 46.8% from the field (29-62) and drilled six of 16 threes attempted (37.5%). The Lancers finished the game shooting 37.5% from the field (21-56) and 9-24 from beyond the arc (37.5%). The Owls controlled the glass, owning a 46-30 advantage while pulling down 16 offensive rebounds to the Lancers seven.
Westfield State punches their ticket into the NCAA tournament with the league's automatic bid, and secures back-to-back MASCAC titles. The Owls are the first team in the conference to win consecutive championships since Bridgewater State won three straight back in 2011. It was also the second straight year in which Westfield and Worcester met in the championship game, with the Owls taking home the victory in 2020 by a score of 81-77.
Westfield State will advance into the NCAA tournament, as the Owls will wait for their name to be called in the NCAA selection show which airs on Monday at 12:30 P.M. on NCAA.com.
