WORCESTER, Mass. - The Worcester State University men's basketball team is off to the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship game after defeating MCLA 96-72 Thursday night in the conference semifinals at John P. Brissette Court.

With the win, Worcester State moves to 15-11 overall on the season, and will face Westfield State in the MASCAC Championship on Saturday afternoon.

Worcester State jumped out to a quick start in the first half and never looked back. The Lancers hit three-pointers on each of its first three possessions of the contest to take a 9-0 lead just 1:28 in. Sophomore Corey Olivier (Maynard, Mass.) hit the first two, followed by the first of five triples of the evening by freshman Sam Dion (Barre, Mass.).

The Lancers would never look back in the opening half, leading by as many as 24 points before the break after a Tyler Dion (Barre, Mass.) three-pointer put Worcester State up 51-27 with 5:02 to play. MCLA closed the first half on a 10-2 run, but the Lancers still held a 53-37 edge headed to the locker room.

The hosts made a remarkable 10 three-pointers before the half, shooting 62.5 percent from distance. Worcester shot 20-for-38 (52.6 percent) from the floor in the half. Sam Dion was the game's leading scorer in the period with 12 points, followed closely by MCLA's Quentin Gittens with 11.

A pair of triples in the first 2:40 of the second half saw MCLA cut its deficit to just 12, but the Lancers kicked it back into gear from there to seal the win. After a pair of Chris Cardoso (Jamaica Plain, Mass.) free throws with 2:55 to play, Worcester State grabbed its largest lead of the night at 25 points at 92-67.

Sam Dion was the game's leading scorer with 24 points, while Cardoso recorded a 21-point, 13-rebound double-double. Tyler Dion and junior Erik Bjorn (Holden, Mass.) also reached double figures in the win with 14 and 11 points respectively.

Gittens was MCLA's leading scorer with 17 points, while Antoine Montgomery dropped 13.

#1 Westfield State 102, #5 Salem State 74        Box Score

WESTFIELD, Mass.– Vawn Lord, Jauch Green, Jr. and Malik Pouncy each scored more than 20 points for Westfield State as the top-seeded Owls ran past #5 Salem State, 102-74 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball semifinal game at Woodward Center on Thursday night.

With the win, Westfield State (19-7) advances to Saturday's championship game to host #2 Worcester State at 1:00 p.m. at the Woodward Center.

Westfield jumped out to a 13-0 lead less than three minutes into the game, winding up the crowd on a dunk from Brendon Hamilton to help spark the run.  From there, Westfield State offered a barrage of three pointers, as Pouncy came off the bench hot, hitting his first four triples to extend the lead to 32-7.

Westfield led 52-35 at the half.

Salem briefly sparked interest in the second half, getting back-to-back three-pointers from Patrick Bugler and Chris McDonald that trimmed the Westfield lead to 11 at 52-41 prompting a timeout from Westfield State coach Rich Sutter.

Lord answered Sutter's call with a driving layup, and then a conventional three-point play to extend the lead back to 14, and Westfield held a comfortable lead the rest of the way.

Lord added to a tremendous season with 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists, Green finished with 24 points, five steals and three assists, and Pouncy finished 5-9 from long range in adding 22 points.  Hamilton finished with 14 rebounds.

Salem was led by junior guard Alex De La Rosa who scored 29 points, and senior Hakeem Animashaun, who fouled out with 16 points and 13 rebounds. The Vikings season draws to a close at 6-21 overall.

Westfield finished 28-44 from the foul line in the game compared to 16-25 for the Vikings.   The Owls shot 33-69 (47.8 pct) from the floor and 8-18 (44.4 pct.) from three point range.

Westfield advances to the MASCAC Championship game for the second straight season.  The Owls last MASCAC championship was won in the 2014-15 season when they Bridgewater State in the title game.

The Owls and Worcester State have met on two occasions in the regular season, where they each secured one victory. In the first matchup, the Owls were defeated by Worcester 84-81 on the road. The second matchup resulted in a Westfield State victory at home with a score of 97-87.

Release courtesy of Westfield State and Worcester State Sports Information