WESTFIELD, Mass. – Juju Omot (Springfield, Mass.) led all scorers with 23 points and Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass.) secured his fifth consecutive double-double of the season to propel Westfield State to a 97-70 MASCAC victory over Fitchburg State on the road Wednesday night.
The Owls improve to 7-3 in the conference and 16-7 on the season. The Falcons fall to 1-8 in league play and 3-19 overall.
Omot topped the 20-point scoring mark for the fourth time in the last five games, adding five rebounds and three assists to his overall stat line. Hamilton added 13 points and 13 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the campaign. Over the last five games, Hamilton is averaging 16.2 points and 15.8 rebounds per game, all against MASCAC opponents.
Kamau Franks (Converse, Tex.) and Alex Moemeka (West Hartford, Conn.) each scored 11 points for Fitchburg. Javon Taylor (Cambridge, Mass.) added eight points and grabbed ten rebounds.
Kobe Parker (Chicopee, Mass.) was the third double-figure scorer, chipping in ten points off the bench as the Owls as a team scored 40 bench points on the night.
Westfield temporarily trailed by two points early in the game after a triple from Frederick Siayor (Worcester, Mass.) put the Falcons up 13-11 with 15:53 remaining in the half.
From that point forward, the Owls would lead for the remainder of the night, ripping off a 17-2 run over the next five minutes to open up a 13-point advantage with Angel Price-Espada (Cambridge, Mass.) and Brendan Keaveny (Quincy, Mass.) burying triples during the run.
The Owls continued to build the lead in the first half after Timmy Jacobus (Willemstad, Curacao) tallied eight consecutive points to push the Westfield lead up to 17 points at 39-22 with 6:48 remaining in the half.
A three-pointer from Omot drove the lead up and over 20 points, as Westfield led by 26 points entering the halftime break, putting the game out of reach.
The Owls shot 47.8% (39-82) for the game with that mark ticking up to 55.3% in the first half. Westfield also made 12 triples on 34 attempts on the night, good for 35.3%.
The Falcons were held to just 38.2% (26-68) from the floor and 3-15 (20%) from beyond the arc.
Westfield State will resume action next week for the final week of the regular season as the Owls host Bridgewater State from the Woodward Center at 7:30 P.M. for senior night.