Owls Hold Off Mt. St. Vincent 89-87 in Naismith Classic Championship Game

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State junior Lid Moreland (Bridgeport, Conn.) scored a team-high 17 points and senior Andre Hairston (Long Island, N.Y.) swatted a pair of shots in the closing seconds of the game to hold off Mt. St. Vincent 89-87 to win the Hampton Inn West Springfield/Naismith Classic Tournament Championship game on Sunday afternoon from Springfield, Mass.

The Owls win their fourth-straight game, improving to 9-4 overall. The Dolphins drop to 3-9 on the season.

Moreland averaged 22.0 points and buried eight triples across both games, earning himself the Naismith Classic Tournament Most-Valuable Player honors. Senior forward Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass.) earned a spot on the All-Tournament team as well, finishing with a double-double of ten points and ten rebounds in the championship game.

Westfield held a comfortable 16-point lead after a triple from Kobe Parker (Chicopee, Mass.) put the Owls ahead 81-65 with 6:16 remaining in the game. However, the Dolphins stormed back into the contest by scoring 11 unanswered points to cut the Owls lead to five points with 3:56 left in regulation.

Xavier Lewis (Wheatley Heights, N.Y.) responded with a three-pointer for the Owls, then on the next possession, an offensive rebound and put-back layup from Moreland extended the Westfield lead back to ten points with 3:11 to play in the game.

Mt. St. Vincent made one final push to steal the victory with Connor Wein (Thiells, N.Y.) converting a layup with 25 seconds left to trail by just two points, capping an 8-0 scoring run. With the Dolphins looking to tie the game, Hairston rejected a pair of point-blank chances from Joshua Cabezudo (Perth Amboy, N.J.) in the paint with the second deflected shot finding Doug Alves (Taunton, Mass.) who converted two crucial free throws after being intentionally fouled to put Westfield up four.

DJ Tucker (Boynton Beach, Fla.) buried a triple for the Dolphins to make it a one-point game with seven seconds left. After Moreland split a pair of free throws to put Westfield up two, Mt. St. Vincent had one final possession, ending in a Tucker layup that rimmed out to seal the Owls victory.

The Owls managed to build up a 17-point advantage thanks in part to the second-half scoring surge from Jerome Stephens (Dorchester, Mass.) who scored 15 consecutive points for the Owls, punctuating the effort with a three-point play to give Westfield a 74-57 lead with 7:44 left in the contest.

Cabezudo led all scorers with 29 points for the Dolphins. Tucker supplied 22 points and nine rebounds with Wein and Alex Chi (Staten Island, N.Y.) scoring 13 points each. 85 of the 87 points scored by Mt. St. Vincent came from their starting lineup.

Westfield State will open MASCAC action in the New Year, travelling to Framingham State on Wednesday for a 7:30 P.M. tip-off.