JESUS SANCHEZ
WORCESTER – Junior guard Jesus Sanchez (Holderness/Springfield Mass.) scored a career-high 32 points to lead Westfield State to a 91-90 overtime win over Worcester State in the first round of the MASCAC men’s basketball tournament on Tuesday night at the Laska Gym at Assumption College.
Fifth seeded Westfield (11-15) scored a mild upset over fourth seeded Worcester State (16-10), and Westfield will advance to play at number-one seeded Fitchburg State on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
Sanchez connected on 11-21 shots from the floor and made all nine of his free throws en route to his big night. Five Owls players finished in double figures, including 6-foot-6 junior center Shane Pasquantonio (Ashland/Ashland, Mass.) who came up huge with 15 points and 15 rebounds while doing battle with the Lancers 6-9 center Paul Brooks all night.
Westfield led 44-43 at the half.
The second half see-sawed with Worcester getting a seven point lead after a pair of Jamal Mustapha free throws with 9:45 left in regulation.
Westfield tied the game at 62-all on a Jose Allen three pointer, then the Owls extended their lead to 69-64 with 7:30 left in regulation.
The Lancers embarked on a 9-0 run of their own, grabbing a 73-69 lead on a Ryan DiBernardo drive with 4:00 left in regulation.
Bilal Shakir curled the lane right side for a layup with 37 seconds left to give Worcester an 81-79 lead, but on the Owls’ next possession Sanchez drove and was fouled, icing both free throws to tie the game at 81-all with 14 seconds remaining.
Shakir drove the lane and kicked out to Alex Santos for a wide-open right-side three-point try as time expired, but Santos’ shot rattled off the rim.
Overtime did not open well for the Owls, as a turnover led to a Brooks slam dunk for the first points of the extra session.
An Allen three-pointer gave Westfield an 86-83 lead, then Sanchez spun away from Brooks on the baseline for a layup and an 88-83 Owls lead with 1:17 remaining in overtime.
Worcester had a chance to tie the game as Santos drove and dished to Brooks, who was fouled and converted the layup to cut the lead to 88-87, but Brooks missed the free throw with 26 seconds left.
From that point, Pasquantonio made 3 of 4 foul shots to give the Owls a 91-87 lead, but DiBernardo drilled a transition three pointer to pull the Lancers within one point, 91-90 with 7.2 seconds left. Westfield’s Austin Joseph was fouled on the inbounds play, and missed both free throws. Worcester pushed the ball up and got an off balance jumper from Marquez McKeith-Collins at the buzzer, but the shot rimmed off to preserve the Owls’ win.
The last-second shots by Worcester at the end of regulation and overtime were eerily reminiscent of the first meeting between the two teams this season, where Shakir hit a 40-footer at the buzzer to win the game for the Lancers. The two teams were meeting for the second time this week, as the Owls and Lancers played their final regular season game on Saturday.
Westfield led 44-43 at the half on the strength of 15 points from Sanchez and 10 from freshman guard Peter Mafo. Mafo was playing his first game back after missing the Owls last six games with injury. Freshman Alex Santos had a big first half for the Lancers with 15 points, including 3-5 shooting from three-point range. The Owls trailed by as many as eight points midway through the first half.
Mafo finished with 13 points, Allen added 12, and Evan Hopson chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds for the Owls, who shot 46 percent from the floor, and connected on 18-23 free throws in the evenly matched game.
Sanchez’s 32-point outburst is the most for Westfield since Grant Cooper tallied 36 against Salem on January 8, 2014.
Alex Santos led Worcester with 23 points, while Shakir added 17 to lead six Lancers in double-figures. – Courtesy of Westfield State University Sports
