Men’s Basketball Uses Late Spurt to Down Wheaton 75-58
Framingham, Mass. – The Framingham State University men's basketball team used a 13-0 late in the second half to break open a three point game and cruise to a 75-58 victory over Wheaton College in non-conference action this evening at Framingham's Athletic Center.
With the win, the Rams move closer to .500 as they are now 4-5 on the season, while the Lyons slip to 5-3 with the loss.
The Lyons jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead just under three minutes into the game on a pair of free throws from Cliften Desravines (Somerville, Mass.) and a three by sophomore Brian Grossman (Duxbury, Mass.).
The Rams outscored the Lyons 21-8 over the next ten minutes to open up an eight point (21-13) lead midway through the frame. Sophomore forward Tyrone Figueroa (Revere, Mass.) led the Rams on the run with eight points.
Framingham State capitalized on Wheaton's poor shooting in the first half as the Lyons were shooting only 4-of their first-23 from the floor (17.4%), but the Lyons shooting from long range was keeping them in the game as three of their first four makes were from behind the arc.
The Lyons cut the Rams lead down to four at the half (28-24) as they connected on 4-of-9 from the field in the final five minutes.
Wheaton quickly tied the score just two minutes into the second half on a jumper by Anthony Weeks (Fitchburg, Mass.) and lay-ins from Brendan Degnan (Narragansett, Mass.) and Desravines, but the Rams answered with five straight points on a Figueroa three deep on the baseline and a tough layup from freshman Andre Santana (Worcester, Mass.) to take the lead for good.
Wheaton cut the Rams lead to three on a Jacob Morales (Lawrence, Mass.) trifecta with 13:44 on the clock, but the Rams once again used a 9-3 run over the next three minutes to push the lead back to eight.
Wheaton continued to chip away at the Rams lead and pulled within three again (51-48) on a Weeks put back with 7:59 left setting the table for the decisive 13-0 run by the Rams. Freshman guard Robert Jones (Cohasset, Mass.) started the Rams on the run with a steal and feed to a streaking Yemi Ajao (Randolph, Mass.) for a layup on the break. Ajoa scored six more points on the run including a steal and dunk on the break that put the Rams ahead 62-48 with 4:08 remaining.
The Rams were able to maintain the double digit advantage the rest of the way and extended the lead to as many as 18 in the final minute.
Figueroa led four Rams in double figures with 18 points, eight boards and three assists. Senior guard Marcus McLaurin (Braintree, Mass.) was a rebound shy of a double double with 15 points and nine boards to go along with three assists. Ajao filled the stat sheet with 13 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and a pair of steals, while Jones finished with 10 points including a pair of threes.
The Lyons were led by Degnan who finished with 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and 7-of-9 from the line, while Will Bayliss (Manchester, NH), Morales, Scott Faucher (Lebanon, NH), and Ryan Clinesmith (New York, NY) chipped in six points apiece.
The Rams shot 49% from the floor for the game (26-53) to just 33% for the Lyons (20-61) and held a 49-24 advantage on the glass including a 15-11 edge on the offensive end.
The Rams return to action on Thursday evening when they host Western Connecticut at 7 p.m., while the Lyons travel to Roger Williams on Saturday at 3 p.m.