Top seed Worcester State and Westfield State are headed for their third straight title game match up after claiming victories in their 2023 MASCAC Men's Basketball semifinal contests Friday night.

#3 Westfield State 9, #2 Bridgewater State 79    Box Score

WESTFIELD, Mass. –   Westfield’s dynamic senior duo of Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass.) and JT Thompson (Columbia, S.C./Dutch Fork) combined for 53 points as the Owls defeated Bridgewater State, 89-79 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball semifinals at the Tinsley Center in Bridgewater, Mass. on Friday evening.  With the win the Owls will advance to the league championship game on Sunday for the fourth straight time.

Thompson posted 27 points on 10-21 shooting and 4-6 from long range, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out six assists.  Hamilton totaled 26 points and 12 rebounds, four steals and five assists, while throwing down several highlight reel dunks.

Westfield is now 12-15 overall and has won five straight and nine of their last 10 games.  Bridgewater’s season comes to a close with an 18-8 overall record.

The Owls set the tone early on the defensive end, getting out to a 13-6 lead in the early going as Bridgewater shot just 3-15 and 0-7 from long range in that span.   In fact, Bridgewater was 0-12 from three-point range before Quinton Champagne (Wrentham, Mass. / B-R Regional) connected with 2:50 left in the first half.

Westfield led 18-8 after a Thompson 3-point play with 10:11 left, and boosted it to 23-10 on a Brendan Keaveny (Quincy, Mass.) 3-pointer just a couple possessions later.

The Owls closed the half with an 8-0 run, punctuated by a Hamilton dunk that made the score 40-25, which was followed by steal by DaeJon Pendleton (Haverhill, Mass.) who fed and Thompson for the two-handed tomahawk which gave the Owls a 17-point lead, their largest of the game to that point, at the half.

Westfield led 42-25 at the break. The Owls shot 18-35 (51.4 percent) in the first stanza, while Bridgewater was just 11-35 and 1-15 from three point range in the half.  Westfield out rebounded the Bears 30-13 in the half.  Thompson and Hamilton each finished with 12 points.   Emerson Halbleib (Carmel, Ind.) led the Bears with points.

Westfield extended the lead to as many as 23 points, leading 55-32 on Pendleton steal and Thompson fast break dunk with 13 minutes left in the half, but the vexatious Bears wouldn’t go away.

Bridgewater made a quick 7-0 run with a layup from Halblieb, a three pointer from Alex Gonzalez (Peabody, Mass./Bishop Fenwick), and then a steal and a layup from Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) to cut the lead to 14, 78-64 with 3:04 left in regulation. Another layup from Kikuba cut the lead to 80-68 with just over two minutes to play.  Kikuba hit two free throws to cut it to 10, 80-70 with 1:29 left.

Westfield broke the Bears’ pressure, and found Thompson for a trailing three to push the lead back to 13.   A rim-rattling fast break dunk from Kumar Brown (Enfield, Conn.) with 24 seconds left appeared as though it would the deal for the Owls.

But Champagne hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left for Bridgewater, then he got a steal and a layup on the ensuing inbounds play to cut the lead to eight points, 85-77, with 12.9 seconds to play.

Hamilton hit two free throws for the Owls to boost the lead back to 10 and time ran out on the Bridgewater comeback attempt.

Keaveny delivered 18 points on 5-11 shooting from downtown, and the Owls got lockdown defense from Pendleton, who finished with 6 assists, six rebounds and three steals in helping key the big lead.  Westfield finished with 25 assists on 32 buckets, and shot 9-17 (52.9 percent) from behind the arc.

Halbleib led Bridgewater with 24 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots. Champagne finished with 14 and Kikuba 13 and five assists and five steals.  The Bears shot just 4-28 (14.3 percent) from three-point land, and closed the rebounding gap in the second half, as they trailed 45-37 on the boards for the game.

#1 Worcester State 74, #5 Fitchburg State 56     Box Score

Worcester, MA- Worcester State was back in action on Friday night after a first round bye in the MASCAC playoffs. Fitchburg, the number five seed upset four seed Salem State to advance to the MASCAC Semifinal matchup. In the semifinals matchup of the Massachusetts Collegiate Athletic Conference, the #1 seed Worcester State Lancers tipped off against the #5 Fitchburg Falcons at 7:30 pm at John P. Brissette gym in Worcester, MA. 

The crowd was out in full force for the playoff matchup creating an instant intensity in the gym.  After the first half, the score was 38-26 Lancers. The game started off fast from the tip as the Lancers marched down with an emphatic dunk that led to a technical foul. The Falcons kept pace with the Lancers throughout the first half keeping the game relatively close and low scoring with the help of some superb defense on both ends of the court and wise tactical coaching decisions coming from the bench. Things did not begin to open up for either team until about halfway through the first half as the score stayed stagnant with only four points separating the Falcons from the Lancers. A crisp layup from Worcester's senior Tayjaun McKenzie (Boston, MA) began a brief spurt of action that saw the Lancers outpace the Falcons 11-5 in scoring and build the Lancers first double digit lead of the half with just six minutes to go. The Falcons would work to close the gap back up with a layup from junior Quincy Taylor (Boston, MA) and a deep three pointer from sophomore Matthew Tanis (Hialeah, FL) to bring the game to within six for Fitchburg. The remainder of the half would see the Lancer and Falcons going basket for basket to close out the first half with Worcester leading by a hard one 12 points. Worcester State's Aaron Nkrumah (Worcester, MA) led all scorers with 10 points in the first half. Tanis led Fitchburg State scorers with nine points in the first half.

Worcester State started the second half quickly with a barrage of three pointers and a fast pace transition offense. The Falcons defense held the Lancers to 36 points in the second half which was an improvement from the first halfs 38 points. A perfect three by junior Ryan Rubenskas (Bridgewater, MA) three minutes into the half set the tone for the Lancers in the remaining 17 minutes of play as their lead jumped to 14 points and would continue to stretch to 18 points with just under 15 minutes in the game to go before the Falcons were able to recover some offensive force. A three pointer from senior Tajahn Joyner (Amherst, MA) looked to be putting the Falcons back on track with just under 10 minutes to go as they worked to overcome the 20 point lead the Lancers had accrued. Looking for another upset victory in the final moments, Fitch burg worked to keep base with Worcester and close the gap down to just 16 points with three minutes remaining, but late foul trouble for both teams slowed the play down and allowed the Lancers to clinch the victory and a repeat trip to the MASCAC Championship. The Falcons outshot the Lancers in the second half from the three with 44% shooting. Worcester allowed 26 points in the first half compared to 30 points in the second half, however they dominated the paint 42-26.

Rubenskas led all scorers with 22 points off of 50% shooting from the field (8-16). Teammate graduate student Erik Bjorn (Holden, MA) was a force on the boards as Bjorn had 10 rebounds, to go along with Rubenskas' 8. Tanis finished the game leading the Falcons with 17 points off of 6-15 from the field. Taylor led the Falcons on the boards with 9 rebounds. Joyner (Amherst, MA) would complete the game with a team high 3 steals.   

Fitchburg State finishes their season 10-16, 4-8 in conference play. They upset #4 seed Salem State to advance to the semifinals. Worcester State's season continues as their record goes to 21-5, 12-0 in conference play as they move onto the championship game against Westfield State. The championship game will be at 4 pm, Sunday February 26th at John P. Brisette gym. This game will see a repeat of the 2022 and 2020 MASCAC Championship that Westfield State hosted and defeated the Lancers, this time home court will be switched into Worcester's hands. 

Releases courtesy of Westfield State and Worcester State Sports Information