Worcester, MA- The Worcester State Men's Basketball team was on the road again after a two home game stand, with a matchup against the Lasell Lasers on Thursday night in Newton. Both teams were coming off of a previous loss. In an exciting back and forth battle, Worcester held them off in the final seconds to come away with a win.
The game started off with the Lancers ahead as Lasell had a hard time defensively and gave up several offensive turnovers. Despite this, the lead went back and forth throughout the first half. Graduate student Erik Bjorn (Holden, MA) sent four balls through the net, while senior Zion Hendrix (Charlotte, NC) netted three threes. There were several high-level connections on both ends of the court, including Lasell's EJ Day's (Norwalk, CT) spin-move in the air to tie up the game in the 13th minute. Freshman guard Conan McCusker (Dorchester, MA) incredibly went 4 for 4 sinking three point shots for the Lasers. The Lancers got caught up in the energy towards the end of the half as they picked up back-to-back fouls. Lancer junior Brandon Goris (Bronx, NY) drove to the hoop to make the score 44-43. Worcester tried to run down the shot clock in the last seconds to gain the lead but were unable to, ending the half with a 47-47 tie.
Lasell took off in the second half, gaining an 8 point lead before the Lancers could retaliate with a shot by junior Ryan Rubenskas (Bridgewater, MA). They continued to dominate while the Lancers slowly crept up on the scoreboard. In the sixth minute, Hendrix stole the ball and cut to the hoop for a layup that gained Worcester their first lead in the half. Thirty seconds later he sunk a three pointer from deep behind the line. With just a minute left and a one point difference, the crowd at Lasell was electric. Junior Sam Dion (Barre, MA) did not let that get to him and made both free throws in the last ten seconds to end the game with the Lancers up by three.
The Lancers (6-3, 0-0) look to tally another win on the road vs Emerson this Saturday December 3 with tip-off set for 1pm.