WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State sophomore Juju Omot (Springfield, Mass.) tallied a team-high 25 points to lead the Owls to a 99-86 victory over Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.
The Owls pick up their sixth consecutive victory of the season, improving to 11-4 overall and 2-0 in the MASCAC. The Trailblazers drop their first conference game of the season, falling to 6-7 on the year and 1-1 in the league.
Westfield scored on their first three possessions of the game with Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass.) opening the game with a dunk and a layup followed by a Kuany Teng (Manchester, N.H.) triple to jump out to a 7-3 lead.
The lead switched hands multiple times in the opening stages with Hayden Morris-Gray (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) burying a three to give the Trailblazers a 16-15 advantage before Hamilton responded with a put-back layup.
With the game tied at 22 apiece, Westfield opened up a seven-point lead in part to a 9-2 scoring run, capped off with a Doug Alves (Taunton, Mass.) layup to give the Owls a 31-24 lead with 6:56 remaining in the half. The Owls maintained their seven-point lead heading into the break after Omot converted a three-point play at the rim in the closing seconds to put Westfield in front 46-39 at the half.
Westfield stretched the lead into double digits in the opening minutes of the second half with Omot nailing a triple on their second possession of the frame. The Owls pushed the lead to as many as 17 points with 13:20 left in regulation after a paint jumper from Angel Price-Espada (Cambridge, Mass.) made it a 63-46 game.
MCLA made a late run in an effort to get back in the game with Craig Williams (Dover, Del.) connecting for a three-pointer to cut the deficit to nine points with 9:13 to play. Omot answered with a layup then JoJo Garcia (Henderson, Nev.) and Quentin Gittens (Pittsfield, Mass.) scored on consecutive possessions to trim the Owls lead to seven points (72-65) with 8:02 left in the game.
Hamilton responded for Westfield with a pair of free throws to push the lead back to ten, then on the ensuing Owls series, Hamilton rimmed home a layup, scoring through contact and converting the three-point play to distance Westfield's lead to 13 points (79-66) with under six minutes left.
Alves padded the Owls lead late in the contest after recording a triple to extend the lead to 14 with four minutes left ultimately securing the victory.
Omot's 25 points came on an efficient 8-16 shooting while hitting eight of 11 free throws attempted. Lid Moreland (Bridgeport, Conn.) added 17 points and dished out seven assists, and Hamilton posted 15 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocks.
Gittens led all scorers with 30 points, 17 of which came in the second half, to go along with 14 rebounds and six assists. Garcia piled up 21 points and five three-pointers while Williams added 13 points and three steals off the bench.
Westfield State will travel to Worcester State on Wednesday at 7:30 P.M. for a rematch of last year's MASCAC Championship game. MCLA will visit Bridgewater State for their next game on Wednesday at 7:30 P.M.