Falcons Power Past Blazers, 91-65

Williams and Bell post Double-Doubles

Fitchburg, Mass — With five players in double figures and a balanced offense the Fitchburg State University Men's Basketball team downed the visiting Blazers of Elms College 91-65 in non-conference action on Tuesday night. With the win the Falcons move to 2-3 overall while Elms remains winless at 0-5.

Senior Jalen Williams led the Falcons with 17 points and a dominating 19 rebounds, while classmate Jaleel Bell chipped in with 13 points and 12 boards. The Blazers were paced by senior Symon Smith who potted 17 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

The Green and Gold controlled the ball early, building a quick 14-8 lead, however Elms answered back with a pair of triples from Diomanni Fernadez and Smith to knot the game at 16-16 with 15:00 minutes to play. That would be the only tie of the game as the Falcons would surge to a 29-19 lead with a 13-3 run that included six points from Williams, a pair of baskets from Lance Hill and Bell and a 3-pointer from Carlos Bermudez-Glean to open up the double digit lead.

Elms responded with a pair from behind-the-arc from freshman Spencer Douglas to cut the lead to 29-25 with less than seven minutes remaining in the first frame. Fitchburg State would close out the half with back-to-back layups from Josh Bosworth and Bell to carry a 45-36 advantage into the lockeroom.

The teams traded baskets to open up the second half of action before Green and Gold went on another extended run, as Leonny Burgos nailed a pair of triples and junior Chima Ebele added a four points, jolting the team to a 17-6 run and push the lead to 63-44 at the 13:15 mark.

Over the next ten minutes the Falcons had balanced scoring from five different players to extend their lead to 21 points (78-57) going into the final stretch.  A pair of baskets from Williams and Mustapha Koroma and four points from the charity strip rounded out the scoring for the Falcons, who finished the game with and 8-0 run for the 91-65 final.

Elms held the advantage in steals 6-5 over the Falcons, however the Falcons dominated on the boards with 26 offensive rebounds and 39 defensive rebounds on the night. The Green and Gold shot 37-75 (49.3%) from the field while knocking down 4-of-13 (30.8%) from long distance.

Elms College went 25-67 (37.3%) shooting overall while hitting 8-29 (27.6%) from beyond the arc.

Fitchburg State next host WPI on Saturday, December 3 starting at 1:00 p.m. Elms travels to Wheelock College on Thursday, December 1 for a 7:00 p.m. match-up.