WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior Lid Moreland (Bridgeport, Conn.) poured in 27 points including six-three pointers to lead the Owls to an 86-73 victory over Bowdoin College in the Hampton Inn West Springfield/Naismith Classic from Springfield College on Saturday afternoon. 

 

The Owls pick up their eighth win of the season (8-4) and have now won their last three games. The Polar Bears fall to 5-7 on the year. 

 

Westfield held a slim five-point edge with six minutes remaining in the first half until the Owls broke off an 11-2 scoring run. Juju Omot (Springfield, Mass.) pushed the lead to ten points, using a shifty crossover move at the top of the key to separate from his defender and lay home the two-point shot. Omot nailed another jumper, then a steal and dunk from Andre Hairston (Long Island, N.Y.) extended the Owls lead to 14 points (39-25) with 3:09 left in the half. 

 

The Owls entered halftime up 43-33 with the Polar Bears cutting the deficit to seven points after a made three from Afamdi Achufusi (Washington, D.C.). Westfield responded by scoring 13 unanswered points with Moreland knocking down two triples in the scoring burst. The Owls capped off the run with a transition alley-oop dunk to Dom Strother (Edinburg, Va.) off the lob from Moreland to extend the Westfield advantage to 20 points with 14:11 to play in the game.

 

Bowdoin made several efforts to get back into the contest, cutting the Owls lead to 14 before a give-and-go from Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass.) to Xavier Lewis (Wheatley Heights, N.Y.) ended with a three-point conversion, bringing the Owls lead back to 17 with just under ten minutes to play in regulation.

 

Westfield would push the lead back to 20 after Moreland's sixth triple of the afternoon and a Hairston layup, but the Polar Bears made a late charge to get back into the game with a layup and free throw from Michael Simonds (Falmouth, Maine) trimming the Owls lead to eight points with 4:11 left. 

 

Doug Alves (Taunton, Mass.) halted the comeback effort with a baseline jumper, then a steal from Kuany Teng (Manchester, N.H.) led to a runout by Moreland who hammered home a dunk on the other end to thwart the Polar Bears' resurgence. 

 

Moreland (27 points, 6-8 3pt. FG) and Teng (15 points, 6-8 FG) combined for 42 of the Owls 86 points on the night. Hamilton added eight points to go along with ten rebounds. He registered four blocks and has swatted four or more shots in five of his last six games.

 

Natrel Allen (Boston, Mass.) led the Polar Bears with 21 points off the bench, followed by Ben Chilson (Tunkhannock, Pa.) who compiled 17 points and six rebounds. 

 

Westfield State will advance to the Hampton Inn West Springfield/Naismith Classic championship game as the Owls will face Mt. St. Vincent, who defeated Springfield College in the earlier game today 66-63, tomorrow at 2:00 P.M.