Grant Cooper scores two of his 14 points over 6-8 Fitchburg center Nick Valliere. (Photo by Mickey Curtis)
WESTFIELD – Junior guard Mark Ingram-Rubin scored a game-high 26 points and senior forward Tom Henneberry had 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds to lead Fitchburg State University to a 68-61 upset victory over Westfield State University in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament semi-finals on Thursday.
Fitchburg, the No. 5 seed with a 15-10 overall record, advances to the MASCAC championship game where faces MCLA on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 1:00 p.m. in North Adams.
No. 2 seed MCLA defeated No. 3 seed Salem State, 77-59, in the other semi-final game. Fitchburg split its season series with MCLA, including a 65-57 home victory over the Trailblazers on Feb. 12.
Westfield, 21-5 and the MASCAC regular season champion, had defeated Fitchburg twice during the regular season – 82-55 and an 81-67 home victory last Saturday.
The Owls, however, struggled offensively against the tight Falcon man-to-man defense in the tourney semi-finals and only scored four points in the opening 10 minutes.
Sparked by Ingram-Rubin’s 17 first-half points, the Falcons led at halftime, 31-22. Ingram-Rubin drained four 3-point baskets in the first half as Fitchburg led 15-4 at the 10:07 mark. The Falcons’ biggest lead in the first half was 13 points, 22-9, following an Ingram-Rubin three-ball at the 5:03 mark.
Fitchburg took its biggest lead of 16 points, 40-24, following another Ingram-Rubin 3-pointer with 17:26 remaining. But the Fitchburg sharpshooter was hit with a technical for taunting the large and boisterous crowd following the 3-pointer, and Westfield began mounting a spirited comeback.
The Owls’ trademark tenacious full court defense led them to an 18-4 run over the next four minutes to pull within two points, 44-42, following a steal-layup by Jordan Santiago with 13:47 remaining.
Fitchburg withstood the fierce comeback, however, and quickly built a 51-42 lead at the 12:15 mark.
The Owls maintained their intense pressure and finally tied the score, 59-59, on a Matt Devine 18-foot jumper with 1:49 remaining.
Fitchburg then won the possession game in the closing minutes. Falcon 6-8 senior center Zach Valliere received the ball in the paint and scored on a turnaround over Devine for a 61-59 Fitchburg lead with 1:24 remaining.
On the Owls’ possession, Devine missed a 12-footer and Henneberry grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He made one free throw for a 62-59 score with 54 seconds remaining.
Henneberry then came up with a big steal when he stripped the ball from Devine in the low post and passed the ball to Ingram-Rubin for a layup to give the Falcons a 64-59 lead with 34 seconds remaining. Westfield missed two 3-point attempts in the final 20 seconds while Fitchburg was 4 for 6 from the foul line.
In a key statistic, Fitchburg was 8 for 19 from 3-point range, including a 6 for 11 effort from Ingram-Rubin. Westfield, meanwhile, was only 2 for 16 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Senior Lee Vazquez scored a team-high 22 points to move into fifth place on the Westfield’s all-time scoring list with 1,521 points. But the high-scoring senior guard was hounded the entire game by the Falcon defense and made only 8 of 26 field goal attempts, including 2 of 12 3-pointers.
Valliere was Fitchburg’s only other player in double figures with 11 points. The Falcons shot 40 percent from the field, including their 42 percent performance from 3-point land.
Westfield forced 19 Fitchburg turnovers. The Owls only had 10 turnovers but they only shot 32 percent from field.
Devine had another double-double effort with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The 6-7 senior center from Pembroke also blocked five shots; he is currently ranked second nationally in blocked shots and led the nation in rejections last year.
Sophomore forward Grant Cooper finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and a game-high five steals before fouling out with 2:14 remaining.
