#5 Fitchburg State Stuns #1 Westfield State, 68-61

#5 Fitchburg State Stuns #1 Westfield State, 68-61

Falcons advance to MASCAC finals to face the MCLA Trailblazers on Saturday afternoon

WESTFIELD, Mass. (February 21, 2013) – Fifth-seeded Fitchburg State University visited top-seeded Westfield State University this evening and stunned the Owls, posting a 68-61 victory in semifinal round action of the 2012-13 MASCAC men's basketball tournament.

Junior guard Mark Ingram-Rubin (Boston, Mass./Bedford) scored a game-high 26 points and senior forward Tom Henneberry (Lexington, Mass./Lexington) had 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds to lead the Fitchburg State offense.  

Fitchburg State improves to 15-10 on the season and advances to the MASCAC championship game to face MCLA on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 1:00 p.m. No. 2 seed MCLA defeated No. 3 seed Salem State, 77-59, in the other semi-final game. Fitchburg split its season series with MCLA, including a 65-57 home victory over the Trailblazers on Feb. 12.

Westfield, 21-5 and the MASCAC regular season champion, had defeated Fitchburg twice during the regular season – an 82-55 and an 81-67 home victory last Saturday. The Owls, however, struggled offensively against the tight Falcon man-to-man defense in the tourney semi-finals and only scored four points in the opening 10 minutes.

Sparked by Ingram-Rubin's 17 first-half points, the Falcons led at halftime, 31-22. Ingram-Rubin drained four 3-point baskets in the first half as Fitchburg led 15-4 at the 10:07 mark. The Falcons' biggest lead in the first half was 13 points, 22-9, following an Ingram-Rubin three-ball at the 5:03 mark.

Fitchburg took its biggest lead of 16 points, 40-24, following another Ingram-Rubin 3-pointer with 17:26 remaining. But the Fitchburg sharpshooter was hit with a technical for taunting the large and boisterous crowd following the 3-pointer, and Westfield began mounting a spirited comeback.

The Owls' trademark tenacious full court defense led them to an 18-4 run over the next four minutes to pull within two points, 44-42, following a steal-layup by Jordan Santiago with 13:47 remaining. But Fitchburg withstood the fierce comeback and quickly built a 51-42 lead at the 12:15 mark. The Owls maintained their intense pressure and finally tied the score, 59-59, on a Matt Devine 12-foot jumper with 1:49 remaining.

Fitchburg then won the possession game in the closing minutes. Falcon 6-8 senior center Zach Valliere (Douglas, Mass./Douglas) received the ball in the paint and scored on a turnaround over Devine for a 61-59 Fitchburg lead with 1:24 remaining.

On the Owls' possession, Devine missed a 12-footer and Henneberry grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He made one free throw for a 62-59 score with 54 seconds remaining.

Henneberry then came up with a big steal when he stripped the ball from Devine in the low post and passed the ball to Ingram-Rubin for a layup to give the Falcons a 64-59 lead with 34 seconds remaining. Westfield missed two 3-point attempts in the final 20 seconds while Fitchburg was 4 for 6 from the foul line.

Valliere was Fitchburg's only other player in double figures with 11 points. The Falcons shot 40 percent from the field, including their 42 percent performance from 3-point land.