MCLA tripped up by Lancers 72-68
North Adams, MA- The visiting Worcester State Lancers snapped MCLA's ten game winning while also handing the Trailblazers their first MASCAC loss of the season in a 72-68 victory. The Lancers are now 4-15 overall (2-4 MASCAC) while MCLA falls to 14-4 overall (5-1 MASCAC). Dave Douillette scored a game high 24 points for the Lancers.
A hard fought game through the first twenty minutes saw Worcester hold a slim one point lead at halftime (29-28). The Trailblazers came out fast in the second half though, using an 11-0 run to start the half to take their largest lead of the night at 39-29.
The lead would slowly deteriorate for the hosts as Worcester cut the margin to 46-42 on a three pointer from Douillette with 13:18 to play. MCLA would quickly push the lead back to eight on a Jamal Brown jumper followed by Benny Cuprill's only bucket of the game making it 50-42.
Worcester once again fought back, this time using an 11-0 run of their own to take their first lead of the second half at 53-50 with under eight minutes to play.
That set the stage for a frantic finish down the stretch in which the game would be tied on six different occassions and neither side holding more than three point lead. After a pair of Lancer free throws from Mike Gittens knotted the game up at 67 apiece with 2:02 to play, each team would have opportunities to grab the lead.
It was not until Worcester's Frank Stephenson intercepted a Jamal Brown pass, who then fouled Stephenson with 35 seconds left, that Worcester would take the lead for good. He calmly sank both free throws giving the Lancers a 69-67 edge.
MCLA senior Jon Greenberg was fouled on the ensuing possession but only converted the front end cutting the margin to 69-68. Forced to foul, MCLA would send Worcester's Ryan Testagrossa to the line who would convert one of two pushing the margin back to two. MCLA had a good look as Chris Harris' jumper with ten seconds left rimmed out.
Worcester's Stephenson would go back to the line and convert a pair of free throws with five seconds left to ice the game.
Free throw shooting was the key statistic of the evening as Worcester went 31-39 from the stripe, while MCLA was 14-19.
Aside from Douillette's big night, Mike Gittens collected 16 points off the bench, including a perfect 10-10 from the line. Clayton Timas and Monte Goodwin each added 10 rebounds for the Lancers.
For the Trailblazers, they were led by Greenberg's 16 points and 13 rebounds. He went 12-14 from the line in defeat. Ramon Viches added 13 points, while Brendan Kordana added 10. Bilal Shabazz added six assists for MCLA.
The Trailblazers will go on the road to meet Salem in a pivotal contest this Tuesday.