Worcester, MA- In an exciting end to the regular season, the Worcester State's Men's Basketball (12-13, 9-3) held on to the third seed in the MASCAC postseason after a comeback victory over the MCLA Trailblazers (6-18, 4-8). The two teams met just this past Saturday in the pivotal game that placed the Lancers as the three seed in the tournament while the Trailblazers advanced as the sixth seed. MCLA jumped out to an early lead on Saturday before Worcester State pushed through late in the second half for the 74-69 victory. With the meeting tonight, each team is looking to claim the needed momentum to advance in the MASCAC tournament.

Final

MCLA: 65

Worcester State: 89

How it Happened:

Both teams started out strong in the first half as each team was playing off the energy from a tight finish just four days ago. Worcester State would finish the first half leading 41-36 after a late offensive surge with about 10 minutes remaining. Both teams demonstrated strong defense throughout the opening 20 minutes of action with Worcester having 2 blocks from sophomore Jaylen Kirkland (Garnder, MA). For the Trailblazers, senior Quentin Gittens (Pittsfield, MA) and junior Jayden Mills (Bronx, NY) would lead in rebounds in the action with three rebounds a piece. Both teams would find themselves aggressive across the court, tied at a single steal each.  Gittens would claim the steal for MCLA while junior Ayme Daguilh (West Boylston, MA) recorded the steal for Worcester State. Offensively, senior JoJo Garcia (Henderson, NV) is leading MCLA in points with 10 for the visitors while Kirkland led Worcester with 16 points. It was a back and forth first half as each squad looked to gain the leverage on their opponent to advance to the semi finals.

The second half continued to be a battle of wills between the Lancers and Trailblazers while MCLA worked to close the slight advantage Worcester held early in the second half. Both teams continued to play with determination on both sides of the court. Worcester State would slowly begin to build out their lead, but MCLA worked to match their shots, keeping the game within single digits until the final six minutes of action would see Worcester State led by senior Brandon Goris (Bronx, NY), graduate student Sam Davies (Worcester, MA) and senior Suubi Nkugwa (Chelmsford, MA) hit some deep threes to pull away from the Trailblazer pressure. Goris would lead the game with a total of 30 points for Worcester State as Garcia led the Trailblazers in points with 17. Gittens led both teams in steals with three on the night as Worcester claimed the 89-64 win to advance to face Salem State on Thursday night at 7pm in the MASCAC semifinals.