Worcester State Men’s Basketball Named Hockenbury Classic Champions

NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Worcester State University Lancers won the 2015 Ed Hockenbury Classic Championship on Sunday afternoon as they defeated Rivier 82-60 in the opening round of the tournament on Saturday (Dec. 5), and claimed the victory over the Norwich University Cadets Sunday (Dec. 6) afternoon in the championship game 71-50. Worcester State's Bilal Shakir (Worcester, Mass.) was named the tournament Most-Outstanding Player. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammate Paul Brooks (Arlington, Mass.)

OPENING ROUND: Worcester State 82, Rivier 60

Junior forward Ryan DiBernardo (Springfield, Mass.) put up a team-best 16 points for Worcester State with freshman guard Alex Santos (Worcester, Mass.) adding 15 points off the bench. Junior Jamal Mustapha (Worcester, Mass.) put up 13 points along with a team-high seven rebounds as the Lancers shot 47 percent from the floor and 42.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Rivier was led by sophomore guard Andre Ruff (Chicago, Ill.) with nine points and six rebounds as seniors Anthony Simmons (Stamford, Conn.) and Cullen Donovan (Wethersfield, Conn.) each scored eight points. Rivier finished the night shooting 35.6 percent from the field and hit 9-of-20 from the three-point range.

Worcester State jumped ahead on a 6-0 run before Rivier finally settled down and rebounded midway to trail by just six points. The Lancers exploded throughout the first half to lead 41-24 at the break before leading by as many as 24 points in the second half. Rivier would put 60 points as Worcester closed out the contest with 82 points for the win.

With the win, the Lancers advanced to the championship game where they would face the tournament hosts, Norwich University, who beat University of Maine-Augusta in the opening round 83-74.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Worcester State 71, Norwich University 50

Bilal Shakir (Worcester, Mass.) led the scoring spree with 21 points for Worcester State (4-4), while Paul Brooks (Arlington, Mass.) picked up a double-double on 19 points and 18 rebounds for the Lancers. Freshman guard Alex Santos (Lawrence, Mass.) contributed eight points and five rebounds with a pair of assists off the bench.

For the Noriwch, Mike Hogervorst (Leiden, Netherlands) put up a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds for the Cadets, while classmate Ryan Fitzgerald (Winchester, Mass.) contributed eight points off the bench.

The Cadets (2-6), who shot 38.7 percent from the floor, went on a shooting spree midway through the stanza, leading 22-12 at the 9:24 mark. The Lancers responded minutes later by converting six points off of Norwich's missed shots before Marquez McKreith-Collins (Springfield, Mass.) nailed a three-pointer to give Worcester State the lead, 25-24, with just four minutes to play in the first half. It would be a back-and-forth affair down the final seconds until Brooks tipped in the ball into the basket on the final tick to give the Lancers the one-point lead, 28-27, at the break.

In the second half, it was the Lancers that exploded out of the gate with a 15-2 run with Bilal making three straight shots from beyond the arc to make it a 43-29 ball game. Norwich looked to get back into the game but struggled to hit its marks, shooting just 29.4 percent (10-34) from the field and nailing just one trey out of 12 attempts in the second half. Worcester would score 43 points in the stanza after a 63 percent shooting spree that saw 7-of-13 shots from beyond the arc lift the Lancers past Norwich for the championship victory.

" I am very proud of our guys," stated head coach Dave Lindberg. "We had contributions from our entire roster this weekend for a total team effort. We played great defense and really shared the basketball. Our defense dictated play all weekend which is how we have to play."

With the positive results from this weekend's tournament, the Lancers improve to 4-4 thus far in the 2015-16 season. Next up the Lancers will travel to University of New Hampshire on Tuesday (Dec. 8) for a non-conference matchup at the Lundholm Gymnasium in Durham, N.H.

Bilal Shakir, Most-Outstanding Player in Tournament

Paul Brooks, All-Tournament Team

Release and Photos Courtesy of Norwich University Sports Information