Second seed Salem State, third seed Worcester State and fifth seed Fitchburg State are moving on to the semifinal round of the MASCAC Men's Basketball Tournament after coming out victorious in their first round games Tuesday night.

#2 Salem State 101, #7 Framingham State 55   Box Score

SALEM, Mass. – Six different players notched double figures as second seed Salem State dominated seventh seed Framingham State 101-55 in the quarterfinals of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament on Tuesday evening at Twohig Gymnasium. The Vikings (15-9) advance to the semifinals on Thursday at 7:00 pm. The Rams end their 2021-22 campaign 3-22.

Salem State's Conner Byrne (Melrose, Mass.) scored a team-high 15 points with three blocks while Chris MacDonald (Wakefield, Mass.) finished with 13 points and five steals. Jarret Byrne (Melrose, Mass.) posted a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds and Jaden Castillo (Lawrence, Mass.) added 10 points in the victory.

MacDonald scored 10 first half points, going 4-for-7 (57.1%) from the floor as Salem State built a comfortable 45-22 halftime lead. The Vikings opened-up the game with a 10-0 run as Framingham State missed their first six field goal attempts. Josh Dumay's (Framingham, Mass.) dunk gave the Rams their first points of the game, but Josian Green (Springfield, Mass.) quickly answered with a three to put the Vikings in front 13-2 at the 15:17 mark. Salem State, which hit eight-of-their-first-12 shots, then extended the lead to 21-5 following a Conner Byrne layup. A Jarret Byrne three pushed the lead to its largest of the half at 23 points, 32-9 with 7:44 left. The Rams managed to shoot just 8-for-28 (28.6%) from the field, enabling Salem State to keep the lead near 20 points for the remainder of the half.

Framingham State went the final 3:07 without a bucket allowing the Vikings to take a 23-point lead into the break. The Vikings, who shot 18-of-31 (58.1%) from the field owned a 24-8 advantage in the paint. Keith Hollman (Cambridge, Mass.) and Joshua-Daniel Okafor (Boston, Mass.) each paced Framingham State with six first half points.

Green scored 11 second half points for Salem State, going a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, including a pair of three's as the Vikings continued to build onto their lead. The Rams' shooting woes continued in the second half as Framingham State converted just nine field goals in twenty-seven attempts, and trailed by 45 points after a pair of free throws by Javiar Osorio (Pittsfield, Mass.). Liam Byrne (Melrose, Mass.) came off the bench and added three blocks in just nine minutes of action as Salem State's bench provided 43 points, led by 18 points from Green and 10 from Louis.

Ralph Franklin Jr. (Milford, Mass.) capped the scoring with a layup to make the final 101-55 as the Vikings ended the night 37-of-65 (56.9%) from the floor.

Framingham State's Jahden Erold (Boston, Mass.) led all scorers with 17 points while Okafor and Hollman tallied nine apiece with Hollman leading the Rams with seven rebounds. Framingham State went just 18-of-65 (27.7%) from the floor while committing 21 turnovers. 

#3 Worcester State 79, #6 Bridgewater State 53    Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – Worcester State doubled up Bridgewater State 42-21 in the second half to pull away from the Bears for a 79-53 victory in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men's basketball quarterfinals action on Tuesday evening at Brissette '88 Court.

The third seeded Lancers (15-11) advance to the MASCAC semifinals and will travel to #2 seed Salem State on Thursday evening. Bridgewater State, the six seed in this year's tournament, ends their year with a 4-19 mark.

Tyler Spencer (Pembroke, Mass.) hit a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give the Lancers a five-point lead at the break, and they carried that momentum into the second half, where they held the Bears to under 30% shooting while hitting 17-38 from the floor and 6-14 from three.

Zion Hendrix (Charlotte, N.C.) had 15 points, 9 of them in the second half, and dished out a team high five assists. Erik Bjorn (Holden, Mass.) had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and all five starters were in double figures for the Lancers.

Worcester used a 7-0 run early in the second half to stretch their lead to 12 points, capped by another triple by Spencer.

Tayjaun McKenzie (Boston, Mass.) got in on the action with a pair of second half three-pointers, the second of which extended the lead back to double-digits after the Bears had cut it to six on a layup by Max Schraut (Abington, Mass.).

That three was part of another run by the Lancers, this time a 9-0 run that stretched the lead back to 62-47. It reached 20 points with 4:55 to play on a steal and fast break layup by Sam Dion (Barre, Mass.), who had four thefts in the game, to go with four assists and 11 points.

A Hendrix theft led to another three by Dion, and the lead was 25, 74-49, with just 3:11 to play.

Bridgewater had three players in double-figures, led by the bench contributions of Justin Parsons (Portsmouth, R.I.) and Chibueze Chukwuezi (Attleboro, Mass.). Parsons had 13 points on 5-9 shooting, including 3-6 from three-point land, though the rest of the team went just 3-14 from behind the arc.

Chukwuezi added 12 points and grabbed six rebounds, while Quinton Champagne (Wrentham, Mass.) scored 11 points and filled the stat sheet with four rebounds, three assists and a block.

Ryan Rubenskas (Bridgewater, Mass.) scored 14 points and just missed a double-double with 9 rebounds, along with three assists, two steals and a block. Otis Wheeler (Worcester, Mass.) passed out four assists and had two steals and a block of his own.

The Lancers are back in the MASCAC semifinals for the second straight season, after reaching the MASCAC championship game in 2019-20, before last year was cancelled.

#5 Fitchburg State 77, #4 MCLA 76   Box Score

Williamstown, MA-- Fitchburg State's Dayne Allen converted a pair of free throws, the second of which was after a lane violation, with just nine seconds left to lift the fifth seeded Falcons to a nailbiting 77-76 win over the fourth seeded MCLA Trailblazers this evening in a MASCAC quarterfinal in Chandler Gymnasium on the campus of Williams College.  With the win, the Falcons (7-17) advance to face the top seeded Westfield State Owls on Thursday evening.  

MCLA ends their season at 10-13.

Late in the ballgame, MCLA's Hayden Bird converted a putback to tie things up at 72-72 with just 1:43 remaining.  His bucket started a 6-0 spurt for MCLA as Noah Yearsley would make a pair of FT's and then following a turnover by the Falcons, Yearsley scored on a drive to make it 76-72 with just 40 seconds left to play.

The Falcons answered quickly as Trevian Hinson, who had a game best 29 points, nailed a three pointer from the top of the key to slice the deficit to 76-75 with 30 seconds left.  MCLA turned it over against the Fitchburg pressure on the next possession setting up Allen's heroics.

Quincy Taylor had a contested look in close that missed but Allen secured the rebound and was fouled.  He drained the first and then missed the second, however a lane violation gave him another shot.  When he swished the next one, the Falcons regained the lead at 77-76.

MCLA called timeout with 9.2 seconds left to set up a final shot.  Yearsley got off an 18 footer that was short and Hayden Bird corraled the rebound, but his contested shot fell short and gave the Falcons the win.

The game was tight throughout as neither team led by more than eight points and that was early in the first half.  It featured eight ties and 13 lead changes overall.

The Falcons led most of the first half but ultimately trailed 41-39 at the break as Yearsley converted a three point play on MCLA's final possession of the half.  MCLA shot 50% in the opening half compared to just 40% for the Falcons.

Hinson was outstanding for the visitors as he poured in his game high 29 point night.  He was 12-24 shooting and 3-5 beyond the arc.  He added 6 rebounds to his stat line.  Tajahn Joyner added 14 points for the Falcons while Frederick Siayor collected 11 points in the win.  Allen was largely held in check with 8 points and 11 rebounds.  Quincy Taylor had a good night on the glass with 12 boards.  

Fitchburg shot 47% in the key second half and 43% overall. They were 14-17 from the free throw line as well.

MCLA was paced by Yearsley's team best 25 points.  He was 7-15 from the floor and battled second half foul trouble.  Quentin Gittens ended with 15 points and 7 assists while Bird ended his night with 11 points and 7 boards.

The Trailblazers shot 40% from the floor and just 31% in the closing half.

Release courtesy of MCLA, Salem State and Worcester State Sports Information