Tchuijo Nkamebo goes up for a contested layup against Worcester State on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Westfield State University Sports)
WORCESTER – Westfield State had five players finish in double figures in scoring, but it was not enough as Worcester State outpaced the Owls 90-79 in the final regular-season MASCAC game for both teams at the Harrington Auditorium at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Saturday afternoon.
Senior Tchuijo Nkamebo (Amherst/Amherst, Mass.) paced the Owls with 18 points. Westfield falls to 10-15, 4-8 in the MASCAC. Worcester improves to 16-9, 8-4 in the league.
Westfield trailed 46-44 at the half. Nkamebo led the Owls with 10 points in the opening frame.
Both teams shot well from the floor as Worcester connected on 18-32 shots (56.35) while Westfield shot 48.6% from the floor. Westfield trailed by as many as eight points, 27-19 with 10:19 left in the half.
The Lancers held Westfield at arms-length for most of the second half. Westfield used a modest 6-0 run midway through the half to tie the game at 62-all on conventional three-point play by Jesus Sanchez (Holderness School/Springfield, Mass.) with 13:36 left in the game.
The Owls earned two more ties, the last at 66-all on a Shane Pasquantonio (Ashland/Ashland, Mass.) layup with 10:53 to play.
The Lancers threatened to pull away again, extending the lead to as many as eight, 74-66, but the Owls rallied back to within two points, 74-72 and again at 76-74 after a Nkamebo layup with 6:55 to play.
Worcester State finally edged away in the closing minutes, getting three pointers from McKreith-Collins, Bilal Shakir, and Ryan DiBernardo on their next three hoops to extend the lead.
The Lancers finished with six players scoring in double figures, paced by DiBernardo’s 20. Worcester State shot 50.8 percent from the floor in the game and connected on 12 of 29 (41.4%) of their three point tries.
Pasquantonio finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds for Westfield. Sanchez added 15 points.
Westfield finishes the regular season in fifth place in the MASCAC. Ironically, the Owls first playoff game will be on Tuesday, February 23 against fourth-seeded Worcester State. That game will be played at Assumption College in Worcester at 7:00 p.m.
