Men's Basketball Tips Off Friday and Saturday With Rick Martin - Hampton Inn Classic Tournament

WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Westfield State men's basketball tips off for head coach Rich Sutter's 27^th year at the helm of the program with the Rick Martin – Hampton Inn Classic Tournament at the Woodward Center on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

The Owls welcome in St. Joseph's – Long Island, Eastern Connecticut State, and St. John Fisher.   Westfield meets SJLI at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, November 8, followed by ECSU-SJF at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday's consolation game is at 12 noon, with the championship game following at 2:00 p.m.

Westfield State will have a new look this season after losing four of their top five scorers from a year ago, when Westfield finished 19-8.

Senior guard Lid Moreland (Bunnell/Bridgeport, Conn.) is the top returning scorer for Westfield after averaging 13.7 points per game in 17 games last season.  Moreland's shown the ability to get hot from outside, scoring 28 points against Amherst and 27 against Bowdoin a year ago, when he drained 6 of 8 from behind the three-point arc.

The Owls are likely to employ a three-guard attack, with Angel Price-Espada (Cambridge, Mass. / Pope John Paul XIII) and Xavier Lewis(Wheatley Heights, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East)  taking on bigger roles.  Price-Espada scored eight points and handed out four assists per game while limited to16 games by injuries last season.  Lewis played in 25 games with three starts, highlighted by a 20-point heater in a win over Framingham State.

In the frontcourt, senior F/C Eric Johnson (Houston, Tex./Travis) is the tallest Owl at 6-7, and he and senior swingman Timmy Jacobus (Willemestad, Curacao / Lake Worth (Fla.) Christian) will be ready for prime-time roles after largely coming off the bench in the past.

The Golden Eagles of St. Joseph look to have a strong hand on paper heading into the tournament.   13-13 a year ago, they return 6-3 senior forward Alec Tabada, who scored 17 points and seven rebounds per game last season, and 6-4 senior forward Spencer Malloy, a physical presence for the Eagles with 13 points and eight boards a game.

St. John Fisher's lineup includes one of the biggest players in Division 3; 7-foot center Connor Williams.   Williams became a social media sensation after tripping in an exhibition game against the University of Buffalo, and the "Big Cozy" has parlayed that stardom into several NIL deals.   He's likely to be a factor on the floor as well, as the Cardinals top returning scorer and rebounder.  The Cardinals hail from Rochester, N.Y. were 18-9 in 2023-24.

A potential Saturday matchup between St. John Fisher and the Owls would make for a powerful contrast as the Owls backcourt stands 5-7 and 5-8, vs. the size of the Cardinals.

Eastern Connecticut has been one of the perennial powerhouse programs in New England, but come into the tournament off a down year in 2023-24 that saw the Warriors finish with a 6-19 record.    Don't expect them to be down for long.  6-7 junior forward Jaylen Hamblen is the top returning scorer at better than 13 points per game, and junior guard Dominick Dao helps run the show with an efficient 12-point, 5-rebound, two-assist stat line each night.