Salem State Comes from Behind to Upend Men’s Basketball 80-77
Framingham, Mass. – Senior guard Justin Nieves (Lawrence, Mass.) nailed a pull up three with 2.3 seconds remaining in the game to lift the Salem State University men's basketball team to an 80-77 victory over the Framingham State University Rams in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men's basketball action at Framingham's Athletic Center.
With the victory the Vikings are now 10-5 on the year and 2-1 in the conference, while the Rams even their record at 8-8 overall and fall to 1-3 in the MASCAC.
The Rams jumped out to a quick lead in the first half as they led 13-4 with 14:29 left in the first after freshman Elijah Chisholm (East Boston, Mass.) came off the bench to score back-to-back buckets. A three from senior guard Rico DePaolis (Watertown, Mass.), who went 3-for-5 from long range in the first half, extended the Rams lead to 18-8 with just over 12 minutes remaining.
The Rams would maintain the lead throughout the first half and extended it to 16, the game's largest lead, on another DePaolis three in the final minute of the first. A three from sophomore Bryan Ortiz (Salem, Mass.) cut the deficit to 47-34 at the half for the Vikings.
Framingham State maintained the lead through most of the second half, but the Vikings slowly chipped away cutting the deficit to one on four occasions including on a three point play by junior Andrew White (Medford, Mass.) with 3:30 left in the game. After a miss by the Rams, Ortiz gave the Vikings their first lead of the game (71-69) on a three in transition off a feed from White.
The Rams answered with a pair of freebies from freshman Tim McCarthy (Wilmington, Mass.) to tie the game at 71-all with 2:17 remaining.
The Vikings would go up two with a pair of free throws and the Rams answered with a pair of free throws tying the score at 73-73 with 1:31 left.
White put the Vikings back up two with a bucket in traffic and senior Tyrone Figueroa (Revere, Mass.) answered with a jumper in the paint for the Rams tying the game once again with 1:08 remaining.
After a Salem miss, the Rams had a chance for the lead but turned the ball over on a five second call. Nieves scored on a back door cut with 36 second left to put the Vikings back up two. Freshman Joe McCabe (Canton, Mass.) cut the deficit to one with a free throw and classmate Tim Sheridan (Rutland, Mass.) tied the game when he sank the first of two free throws with 17.8 left in the game.
After a timeout, Sheridan missed the second setting the stage for Nieves' game winning three with 2.3 on the clock. The Rams still had a chance as they called timeout, but could not get a shot off as time expired.
Ortiz finished the game with a team-high 18 points for the Vikings on 7-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-6 from behind the arc, while Nieves finished with 15 points despite shooting just 6-of-16 for the game. White just missed a double double with nine points and seven boards to go along with five assists and four steals.
The Rams were led by Figueroa's game-high 20 points on 6-of-12 from the field and he just missed a double double as he grabbed a game-high nine boards. Sheridan had a strong game inside shooting 8-of-10 en route to 18 points to go along with seven boards. DePaolis finished with nine, while McCabe and McCarthy finished with eight apiece.
Free throw shooting hurt the Rams in the game as they went to the line 30 times but made just 17 (56.7%), while the Vikings connected on 75% (18-24) from the line in the game.
The Rams return to action on Thursday with a MASCAC game at MCLA beginning at 7:30 p.m., while the Vikings entertain Fitchburg State on Thursday evening for a 7:30 p.m. tilt.