Men's Basketball Closes Season with Loss to MCLA in MASCAC Tournament

North Adams, Mass. - The sixth seed Framingham State University men's basketball team saw their season come to a close this evening with a 63-52 loss to third seed MCLA in one quarterfinal of the 2018 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Men's Basketball Tournament.

With the win, the Trailblazer, who were led by 19 points from freshman Noah Yearsley, improve to 10-15 on the year and advance to face second seed Bridgewater State University in on semifinal on Thursday evening. The Rams see their season come to a close at 6-20.

Yearsley connected on six-of-11 from the floor including three-of-six from behind the arc to go along with five rebounds and two assists as he was also the lone Trailblazer to record double figures.

The Rams were paced by a team-high 14 points from senior Kenny Seitz (Milford, Mass.)  Seitz connected on five-of-12 from the floor including four-of-10 from long range.  Junior Manny Payton (Fitchburg, Mass.) added 10 points, while classmate Charles Valbrun (Hyde Park, Mass.) recorded a team-best 11 boards.

MCLA led wire to wire as they scored the game's first seven points and quickly built a double digit advantage.  The lead would grow to 30-14 with 4:18 left in the first half, but the Rams would outscore the Trailblazers 9-0 to close the half to cut the deficit to 30-23 at halftime.  

The Trailblazers once again increased the lead to 16 points at 43-27 after a Yearsley drive to the and dish to Joe Wiggins with 14:56 remaining.  A few minutes later, with the score at 46-30 in favor of MCLA, the Rams once again countered.  The Rams used a 7-0 spurt capped by a Seitz triple to cut the deficit to 46-37 with ten minutes left to play.

A three point play from MCLA's Keiland Cross stopped the run and pushed the lead back to double figures.  The Rams would cut it to nine for the last time on Tyri Hampton's (Fitchburg, MA) jumper with 5:33 left, but could not get any closer the rest of the way.