Men’s Basketball Loses Thriller to Salem State 91-84
Framingham, Mass. – The Framingham State University men's basketball team battled the first place Salem State Vikings hard all night but were eventually defeated 91-84 by the Vikings in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men's basketball action at Framingham's Athletic Center.
With the win, the Vikings improve to 14-7 on the season and are tied atop the MASCAC standings with Bridgewater State at 7-2, while the Rams slip to 8-15 overall and 2-8 in the conference.
The Rams were led by forward Tyrone Figueroa (Revere, Mass.) who tallied a team-best 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 7-of-10 from the line. Figueroa filled the stat sheet with six boards, eight assists, a pair of blocks and a steal. Freshman forward Andre Santana (Worcester, Mass.) tallied 19 points to go along with seven boards, while junior guard Rico DePaolis (Watertown, Mass.) added 18 on 6-of-8 from behind the arc. Sophomore forward Jamie Henderson (Duncanville, TX) added 12 points and six boards off the bench for the Rams.
The Vikings were led by senior forward Brian Clark (Deerfield, Mass.) and his game-high 29 points on 8-of-12 from the field and 12-of-15 from the line. Clark just missed a double double as he grabbed a team-best nine boards to go along with a pair of blocks and three helpers. Sophomore Andrew White (Medford, Mass.) was the only other Viking to record double figures as he poured in 26 points on 9-of-12 from the field. Junior Nate Sampson (Lowell, Mass.) and senior Dan Clark (Deerfield, Mass.) added nine and eight points respectively.
The Vikings started the game firing on all cylinders from the floor connecting on 7-of their first-9 (78%), while the Rams struggled from the floor in the early going shooting just 29% (4-14) enabling the Vikings to build a 20-11 lead with 12:10 on the clock.
The two teams traded baskets over the next several minutes with the Vikings maintaining the advantage. Trailing 40-31 with 4:53 left in the first, the Rams closed the half with an 11-2 run capped by a Santana drive with 18 seconds remaining that sent the game into the break tied at 42. DePaolis led the Rams in the first with 15 points on five three pointers, while Brian Clark led the Vikings with 15 first half points.
In the second half the score was tied on three occasions and the lead changed hands six times. The Rams opened the stanza with a 7-0 fueled by four points from Santana to take a 49-42 lead, their first of the game. The Vikings received a spark off the bench from White who scored eight of Salem's next 13 points as they regained the one point lead (55-54) with 12:36 on the clock.
The two teams traded baskets and the lead over the next six minutes before a Nate Sampson (Lowell, Mass.) bucket with 6:42 remaining put the Vikings in the lead for good. The Rams pulled within three coming out of a timeout on a Santana three pointer with 3:08 left, but that was as close as they would come as a three from White pushed the lead back to six.
The Vikings capitalized on a pair of Ram turnovers to push the lead to 10 (84-74) with 1:01 remaining. The closest the Rams would get would be seven on two occasions in the final minute. The first on a Justin Perron (North Attleboro, Mass.) trifecta with 29 ticks left on the clock and the second on a Figueroa three with seven seconds left to reach the final margin.
The Vikings shot 52% from the floor in the game (31-60), while the Rams shot 47% (32-68). The Rams struggled from the free throw line shooting just 40%, while the Vikings took advantage of their opportunities shooting 75% from the stripe. Salem State held a 40-37 advantage on the glass, but the Rams held the 15-13 edge on the offensive end. Salem's bench was the difference as the Vikings received 39 points from their reserves, including 26 from White, while the Rams received just 15.
Both teams return to MASCAC action on Saturday with the Rams traveling to MCLA at 3 p.m. and the Vikings traveling to Fitchburg State at 3 p.m.