WESTFIELD, Mass. –Westfield State sophomore Juju Omot (Springfield, Mass./Central) led the Owls with 25 points in an 86-65 win over Mass College of Liberal Arts in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic conference men's basketball game at the Amsler Campus Center gymnasium in North Adams, Mass., on Wednesday evening.
Westfield State improves to 15-6 overall and 6-2 MASCAC, holding on to a share of second place in the league standings, while MCLA is now 11-9, and 5-3 MASCAC, falling a game back in the standings.
Omot finished 11-21 shooting from the floor, with seven rebounds and five assists as he continues a strong rookie year with the Owls. Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Tech) added 15 points and 15 rebounds, for his fifth straight game in double figure rebounds and 14th this season. He entered the game ranking 10th in the nation in D3 with 11.6 rebounds per game. Dom Strother (Edinburg, Va./Woodstock Academy) scored 11 for the Owls, and Angel Price-Espada (Cambridge, Mass./Pope John) contributed 10 points and five assists.
MCLA was led by a game-high 31 points from Quentin Gittens, but 23 of those points came after the half when the outcome was little in doubt. Craig Williams and Jojo Garcia each added 11 points for the Trailblazers.
Westfield led 43-25 at the half.
MCLA made a run at the Owls midway through the second half, trimming the lead down to 13 points at 58-45 on a drive from Gittens with 11:14 left in the game.
The Owls responded with Omot scoring eight of the Owls next ten points to boost the Westfield lead to 21 points, 68-47 after a layup with 8:41 left, and MCLA never seriously threatened the advantage from there.
Westfield set the tone for the game early, with a baseline alley-oop to Hamilton, for a bucket on the first possession of the game, then Hamilton swatted away a Blazers' shot on the defensive end seconds later.
Neither team shot well in the early stages of the game, but Westfield heated up later in the half, outscoring the Blazers 22-6 over the final 7:45 of the first half to build the big halftime lead. The Owls got back-to-back three pointers from Omot and Xavier Lewis (Wheatley Heights, NY/Half Hollow Hills East) to close the half.
Westfield limited MCLA to just 6-28 (21.4 percent) shooting from the floor in the opening 20 minutes. Westfield also dominated in the rebounding game, holding a 27-17 margin in the half, led by eight boards from Hamilton.
Omot led the Owls with 14 first half points. MCLA got eight from Garcia, but Westfield held the Trailblazers leading scorer, Gittens to just six points and 1-8 from the floor in the opening stanza, after Gittens had sprung for 30 points in the first meeting between the two teams.
Westfield will be back in action on Saturday, hosting league-leading Worcester State at 2:00 p.m. at the Woodward Center.
MLCA will next host Bridgewater on Saturday, with a 2:00 p.m. tip off.