WESTFIELD, Mass. – JuJu Omot's (Springfield, Mass.) three-point play in the final five seconds of the game sealed Westfield State University's 86-85 victory over the Vikings of Salem State this afternoon at the Twohig Gymnasium in Salem, Mass.
The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) victory for the Owls bumped them to 18-7 overall and 9-3 in conference play, and locked the Owls in as the #3 seed in next week's conference tournament. The Owls will host #6 Fitchburg State in a first-round conference playoff game on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at the Woodward Center, with a 7:30 p.m. tip.
Trailing by as many as 15 points in the second half, Westfield's furious late game rally included Omot scoring a pair of buckets in the final 15 seconds, where the Owls trailed 85-81. Omot put back a miss of his own shot, then on the ensuing inbounds play the Vikings turned the ball back over to the Owls. Omot drove the lane and spun to lay the ball in as he was fouled, then hit the free throw for an 86-85 lead with 6.5 seconds left to play.
Salem got a running three point try off as time expired, with the shot hitting the backboard and the side of the rim before falling out of harm's way.
For the Owls, Omot had a game-high 33 points, including the game- winning free throw, while Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass.) had a 15-point, 15-rebound, 8-block performance in the victory. Hamilton's eight blocks were one short of the school record of nine set by Matt Devine in 2012. Kuany Teng (Manchester, NH) added 10 points for the Owls.
The loss dropped the Vikings to 12-12 on the season and 5-7 in MASCAC action. Before this afternoon's regular season finale, the Vikings honored lone senior Jaden Castillo (Lawrence, Mass.)
Michael Makiej (Andover, Mass.) and Castillo led the Vikings with 31 points and 27 points, respectively, while Castillo dished out six assists in the effort.
The Owls jumped out to the 12-4 lead before a Makiej layup and Castillo triple brought the Vikings within five (14-9) with 14:21 to play in the half. The Owls would hold the slight edge before seven unanswered points from the Vikings gave them their first lead of the game, 30-29, with 5:35 remaining in the opening stanza. Westfield would steal the lead briefly before the Vikings regained control to lead by as many as nine before taking a 48-41 advantage into the break.
A Makiej three-pointer in the opening seconds would give the Vikings their first double-digit lead of the game at 51-41. Shortly after and over a span of thirty seconds, Castillo would go 5-5 from the charity stripe to extend the Vikings lead, 58-44. Salem would hold onto the double-digit edge until the halfway point of the second when the tail end of an 8-0 Westfield run made it a 68-59 game with 10:15 to play. With three minutes to play Liam Byrne (Melrose, Mass.) gave the Vikings some life after a two-handed dunk got the crowd on their feet and reclaimed his team's ten-point edge (81-71).
The Vikings will hit the road on Tuesday, February 20 for the first round of the MASCAC post-season tournament.