WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State grad student forward Kumar Brown (Enfield, Conn.) scored a career high 23 points to lead #3 Westfield State to an 81-60 win over #6 MCLA in the opening round of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament at the Woodward Center on Tuesday evening.
Westfield improves to 11-15 overall on the season, while MCLA's season comes to an end at 7-17.
With the win, Westfield State advances to play at #2-seed Bridgewater State in the tournament semifinals on Thursday, February 23, with a 5:30 p.m. tip off at the Tinsley Center.
Leading 40-29 at the half, Westfield used a fast start to help push the game out of reach.
Westfield opened the second half with a 12-4 spurt, fueled by a baseline dunk from Brown and capped by a Brendan Keaveny (Quincy, Mass.) 3-pointer to make it 52-33.
An Amon Moore (Davenport, Fla.) jumper for MCLA and another from Kumar Lewis (East Elmhurst, N.Y.) brief halted the Owls' momentum, but Westfield gradually extended the lead to 22 points at 65-43 on a Gerry McManus (Hudson, Mass.) free throw with 9:25 left.
The Owl lead got to as many as 27 points before the two teams both went deep in their benches for the final five minutes.
Brown finished with 10 boards and shot 11-18 from the floor. JT Thompson added 24 points (4-9 on three pointers), seven rebounds and four assists, for the Owls, and Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass.) contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds. DaeJon Pendleton (Haverhill, Mass.) handed out seven assists. Westfield shot 51 percent from the floor for the game, and held the Blazers to 34.4%.
MCLA was led by 15 points from grad student guard Noah Yearsley (Averill Park, N.Y.) who left late in the game due to an apparent injury. Korey Greenland (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) added 11 poins and JoJo Garcia (Henderson, Nev.) and Jake Bluestein (San Diego, Calif.) each had 6 for the Blazers.
Westfield used a 15-0 run midway through the first half to extend it's lead to 26-14 and force the Trailblazers second time out of the game. Thompson started the run with a three-pointer and drilled another three to cap the run with 8:37 to play.
The lead hovered there for rest of the half. MCLA's Garcia drained a long three pointer in the closing minute, but Westfield answered with a floater at the buzzer from McManus to give the Owls a 40-29 lead at the half. Thompson led Westfield with 15 in the half, with Brown adding 13. Westfield shot 54.8 percent (17-31) from the floor in the half.
MCLA was led by nine from Yearsley and eight from Greenland in the first half. The Blazers shot well from three point range, connecting on seven of 19 (36.8 percent) from behind the arc.
Westfield held a "white out" for the game, in honor of Morgan's Message, a non-profit that advocates for student athlete mental health, and drew a crowd of 456 for the game.