Men’s Basketball Falls to MCLA, 85-75

Framingham, Mass. – The MCLA Trailblazers received a double double from senior forward John Jones (Worcester, Mass.) as they defeated the Framingham State University Rams 85-75 this evening in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men's basketball action at the Athletic Center.   

With the victory, the Trailblazers improve to 8-14 on the season and even their mark at 5-5 in the conference. The Rams fall to 7-15 overall with the loss and are now 2-8 in the MASCAC.

Jones led four Trailblazers in double figures tallying a game-best 22 points and 10 rebounds en route to the double double.  Jones connected on 7-of-10 from the floor and filled the stat sheet with two assists and four steals.  Junior Todd Hunt (Cambridge, NY) connected on 7-of-13 from the field as he chipped in with 17 points and six boards, while sophomore Paul Maurice (Boston, Mass.) and senior Ramon Viches (Boston, Mass.) added 13 and 11 respectively.

The Rams were led by a team-high 18 points from sophomore guard Tim McCarthy (Winchester, Mass.). McCarthy paced five Rams in double figures as he connected on 4-of-7 from behind the arc to go along with a pair of steals.  Freshman guard Dan Gould (Quincy, Mass.) chipped in with 14 points on 4-of-8 from long range, while sophomore guard Joe McCabe (Canton, Mass.) scored 13 to go along with three assists and two steals.  Junior forward George Jordan (Worcester, Mass.) and freshman guard Jaquan Harris (Randolph, Mass.) were the other Rams in double figures with 11 and 10.

MCLA started the game with a 7-0 run fueled by five points from Viches before the Rams got on the board on a McCabe three pointer.  The Trailblazers extended the lead to 22-9 midway through the frame, but the Rams countered with a run of their own to pull within three on a McCabe three point play with 4:30 left in the half.  The Trailblazers pushed the lead back to double digits (34-24) before taking a 37-29 lead into the locker room.

The Trailblazers extended the lead back to double digits in the opening minutes of the second and led by as many as 16 as they secured the victory.

The Rams bench outscored the Trailblazer bench 41-16 with Gould, Harris and McCabe accounting for the majority of the advantage, while the Trailblazers held a 38-20 edge in points in the paint.  The Trailblazers shot 55% from the field in the game (32-58) and 40% from behind the arc (8-20), while the Rams shot just 37% (26-71) but did connect on 42% from behind the arc (13-31).

The Rams return to action on Saturday with a MASCAC game at Salem State University with tipoff slated for 3 p.m., while the Trailblazers host Keene State in a non-conference game on Thursday evening beginning at 7 p.m.