WESTFIELD, Mass. - On a night that Jesus Sanchez (Holderness/Springfield, Mass.) scored his 1,000th career point for Westfield State, it was the supporting cast that stole the show as the Owls defeated Fitchburg State 88-81 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference opener for both teams at the Woodward Center on Wednesday evening.
Sophomore walk-on forward Marcus Collins (Cambridge Rindge and Latin/Cambridge, Mass.), a defensive back on the Owls football team started in place of injured Owls center Shane Pasquantonio, and Collins responded with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Austin Joseph (Cardinal Spellman/Rockland, Mass.) was pressed into action after point guard Peter Mafo (Lynn Classical/Lynn, Mass.) left with an injury, and dished out a career-high eight assists without a single turnover and drilled a big three-pointer, and senior guard Jose Allen (Amherst, Mass.), playing just his second game of the year after finally being granted a redshirt year netted a team best 21 points for the Owls on 5-8 shooting from three point range.
Westfield's total team effort upstaged a 29-point, 10-rebound effort from Fitchburg senior guard Jaleel Bell (Dorchester, Mass.). Jalen Williams (Meriden, Conn.) added 14 points for the Falcons.
Fitchburg made several runs at the Owls in the second half, cutting the lead down to as few as nine points on two occasions, but the Owls answered each run.
The Falcons cut the Owls lead to eight points on a Jeremiah Ephraim (Dorchester, Mass.) layup with 2:03 left in the game, but Allen scored a layup 15 seconds later to push the lead back to 10, 84-74. A Nicholas Tracy three-point play cut the lead to seven, but Joseph answered with a pair of free throws to boost the lead back to nine, 86-77. Allen and Bell traded buckets, and then a Tracy jumper with five seconds left in regulation kept the final margin at seven points.
Westfield State improves to 4-8, 1-0 in the MASCAC. Fitchburg State is 4-6, 0-1 MASCAC.
Sanchez finished with 17 points, passing the 1000-point plateau on a driving, hanging layup just 12 seconds into the second half. He added four assists and three steals.
Sanchez becomes the 21st player in Westfield State men's basketball history to score 1,000 points in his career and now has 1006 career points. Vaso Jaukovic '05 is next up on the list at 1017.
Westfield State junior guard Allister Williams (Bedford/Boston, Mass.) added one of his best games as an Owl with 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. The Owls connected on 10 of 23 three-point tries in the game and outrebounded the Falcons 43-33.
Westfield State will next play at MCLA in North Adams on Saturday in another MASCAC contest. Fitchburg will host Southern Vermont in a non-conference game on Saturday.
