Men's Basketball Bested by Salem State
Salem, Mass. - Bryan Ortiz (Salem, Mass.) scored 21 points as the Vikings of Salem State defeated the Rams of Framingham State University 91-67 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup this afternoon at the O'Keefe Center.
The Vikings improve their record to 14-8 on the season and 7-3 in MASCAC competition. Framingham State slips to 7-16 overall and 2-9 in conference play.
Evenly matched in the first 10 minutes of the game, a three-pointer from Joe McCabe (Canton, Mass.) gave the Rams an 18-14 lead. Salem State's three-point shooters led the Vikings on a 12-0 run that gave the Vikings a 26-20 lead with 6:26 remaining. The Rams retaliated with a 7-0 run that cut the Vikings lead to 28-27 with five minutes left in the first half, but Salem State closed out the period with an 8-0 run giving the home team a 39-32 lead at halftime.
Ortiz sparked the offense for the Vikings in the second half with a deep three-pointer giving Salem State a 42-32 lead thirty seconds into the half. A layup from Charles Collins (Lynn, Mass.) cut the deficit to four, but that was as close as the Rams would for the remainder of the night.
Robert Morin (Lee, Mass.) played well in his start for Salem State scoring 15 points with four rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting. Grassa chipped in with 14 points and Hamed Akanni (Fitchburg, MA) added 16 points off the bench.
Daniel Gould (Quincy, Mass.) and George Jordan (Worcester, Mass.) paced the Rams with 15 points apiece. Tim McCarthy (Wilmington, Mass.) had 12 points for Framingham State.
The Vikings will host the Bears of Bridgewater State University on Tuesday, February 18th at 7:30 p.m. at Twohig Gymnasium. The Rams will host the Bengals of the University of Maine of Fort Kent on Monday, February 17th at 7 p.m.
Release courtesy of SSU Sports Information.