Men's Basketball Falls Short at Westfield State, 71-60

Westfield, Mass. – The Framingham State University men's basketball team took to the road this afternoon and fell short at Westfield State as the Owls defeated the Rams 71-60 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action at the Woodward Center.

Westfield State used an explosive 24-6 run late in the first half to build a big lead and then held off Framingham State to secure the victory.

Westfield State (9-12, 4-5 MASCAC) led 20-14 with 9:30 left in the first half before they rattled off the run that was sparked by a  Jose Sanchez three-pointer.  The Owls made their next five shots from the floor. Including a pair of big dunks with the second coming on a back-door alley-oop from DiPhillipo to Tchuijo Nkamebo who hammered home the feed to give Westfield a 39-18 lead. 

Westfield built the lead to as many as 24, 44-20, before Framingham cut the halftime margin to 44-22 after a Tim Mangano jumper just before the break.

Framingham rallied in the second half, cutting the lead all the way down to nine points, 66-57, with 2:56 to play on a jumper by Tony Alexander.  However, Westfield made five of eight free throws down the stretch to preserve the final margin of victory.

Mangano led Framingham (4-17, 1-8 MASCAC) with 19 points, while Tim McCarthy and Jacek Louisville added 10 apiece for the Rams.  Alexandre just missed a double double as he finished with eight points and eight boards.

Westfield will host local rival Elms College on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., while the Rams are back in action on Wednesday night at MASCAC foe MCLA with tip off slated for 7:30 p.m.

Portions of release courtesy of WSU Sports Information