#3 Fitchburg State Withstands #6 Worcester State, 74-63 (OT)

Lee and Armstrong combine for 37 points to lead Falcons past Lancers

FITCHBURG, Mass. – The third seeded Fitchburg State men's basketball team defeated the sixth seeded Lancers of Worcester State University in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) quarterfinal round action of the 2014-15 MASCAC men's basketball tournament this evening at Parkinson Gymnasium.

With the win, Fitchburg State improves to 15-11 (6-6 MASCAC) and advances to the semifinal round on Thursday as it travels to Bridgewater State to take on the second seeded Bears for a contest starting at 7 p.m. Worcester State concludes the 2014-15 season with an overall record of 6-20 and a 6-6 mark within conference play.

Worcester State had four players reach double figures with senior Brendan Rios leading the way. Rios finished 7-of-19 from the field for a game-best 20 points on the evening, while classmate Charles Gunter added 15 points and 11 caroms to the mix. Sophomore Paul Brooks rounded out the Lancers attack with a double-double of 12 points and 12 boards.

For the Falcons, junior Kwame Lee turned in a double-double of 19 points and ten boards, while classmate Keyon Armstrong added 18 points, five assists and five steals. Junior Givaughn Jones was also solid, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists for the hosts.

Worcester State snagged a six point advantage at the half, using a ten point first half effort from Brooks. The Lancers jumped out to an early seven point lead, opening the contest on an 8-1 run on a layup form Brooks and a pair of trey's by Rios before Fitchburg State knotted the game at (10-10) midway through frame, highlight by four points each from Armstrong and Jones.

The Lancers responded with a 7-2 run at the 8:11 mark on a three pointer by sophomore Marquez McKreith-Collins as well as a pair of layups from Gunter to take a 17-10 advantage en-route to a 27-21 margin at the break.

In the second half, the two teams trade buckets to start the frame before Worcester State grabbed  its highest lead of the second half (47-40) with 6:27 remaining in regulation as Rios knocked down his fourth shot from beyond the arc.

The Green and Gold continued to battle down the stretch however, trailing by three (55-52) with seven second left, junior guard Leonny Burgos drove into the lane before kicking out a pass to Lee on the right elbow, who then proceeded to knock down the game-tying trey as time expired to force overtime.

In the overtime period, with score knotted at 59 all, the Falcons went on an 15-2 stretch that lasted nearly three minutes to break open the contest as Lee accounted for seven of the Falcons 15 points during that run, resulting the 74-63 final.

For the game, Worcester State shot 33.3 % from the field on 24-of-72 shooting from the field and 25.0 % from three point range, while the Falcons shot 45.1% from the field, including 38.1% from behind the arc.

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