Men's Basketball Defeated In Semester Finale By Western Connecticut

Dudley, MA --- Western Connecticut sophomore Kendal Marquez (Willimantic, CT) drained 22 points and connected on six three pointers as he helped lead the Colonials to a 95-52 win over  Worcester State in non-conference men's basketball action this evening at the Nichols Athletic Center.

Western Connecticut, who is receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, remains unbeaten at 7-0 while the Lancers slip to 2-7 on the young season.

Senior Tony Seldon (Bloomfield, CT) also poured in 16 points with three swipes as junior Louis Bridtter (Stamford, CT) finished with 13 points, four blocks and a duo of steals.

Worcester State sophomore Paul Brooks (Arlington, MA) notched his third double-double of the campaign with a team-high 14 points and he corralled a game-best 13 boards. Senior Brendan Rios (Easthampton, MA) chipped in 10 while sophomore Jeremy Bacon (Milford, MA/Hopedale) added nine points and seven caroms.

Western Connecticut started off the contest strong with the quick 24-8 advantage eight minutes into the game. Senior Phikwan Tate (Bloomfield, CT) converted an old-fashioned three-point play and Marquez jacked two trey's to finish off the surge for West Conn.

The Lancers responded and sliced into the deficit with a 6-2 mini run to trail 28-14 with 9:05 on the clock, but the hot shooting of the visitors proved to be too much for Worcester State to handle.

Sneldon helped his club erupt in a 22-5 spurt with 12 points – including four on trifectas – to help the Colonials balloon their margin to 50-19 with 4:49 left in the opening half.

Following a 59-25 contest at the intermission, Worcester State narrowed the gap to 65-34 at the 14:38 mark, however, that was as close as the hosts got down the stretch. Western Connecticut then finished off the game by nearly doubling up their opponents in the final 13 minutes of regulation (31-16) for the final score.

The Colonials sank on half of their shots on a 54 percent effort from the field (37-for-69) and hit 12 three pointers (12-for-25 – 48 percent). WSCU also generated over one third of their offense off the fast-break (34-16) while also holding leads in points off turnovers (25-15) and baskets in the paint (42-36).

Worcester State actually led in overall rebounding (48-34) and offensive caroms (21-8), but only canned 29 percent of their attempts for the game (29 percent) and did not make any of their 11 bids from beyond the arc.

Second chance points were event (13-13) and WSU hit 70 percent from the free throw line (14-for-20).

The Lancers will play again in Newport News, Virginia when Worcester State takes on Hood in the opening round of the Captains Shootout on Monday, December 29. Western Connecticut heads to Albertus Magnus for a 7 PM road matchup this Monday for their final contest of the fall semester.