Rogers, Lewis Power Owls in 80-62 Win Over Anna Maria

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State University sophomore forward Kenney Rogers narrowly missed a triple-double with 25 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists as the Owls defeated Anna Maria College, 80-62 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference game at the Woodward Center on a snowy Saturday afternoon.

Westfield improves to 11-4, 3-1 in the MASCAC, while Anna Maria is now 4-10 overall and 1-3 in the league.  It was the first-ever conference matchup between the two schools with Anna Maria joining the league this season.

Leading 54-46 with 13 minutes left in the game, Westfield put together an 11-2 spurt that helped put the game to bed.

The Owls led 57-46 after old fashioned three-point play by Rogers, who went to work inside as he then he scored on a putback on the next trip, and made it 61-48 with a contested layup on an inbounds play for seven straight points.

A Jason James layup with 8:16 left to play swelled the lead to 17 at 65-48.

Westfield got 23 points from Xavier Lewis, who was an efficient 8-11 from the floor, 2-3 from three-point range and 5-5 at the foul line. Lewis topped the 20-point mark for the second straight game, lifting his season average over 13 points per game.   A.Z. Allah added 12, James 11, and Joe Thomson finished with seven points and nine rebounds while battling foul trouble in the second half.   Cam Hoekstra added eight rebounds and a pair of steals off the bench.

Rogers dished out his ninth assist of the game on a behind the back pass to Lewis for a three-pointer that made it 76-57.  Rogers went the bench with two and a half minutes left and the comfortable Owls lead.

Westfield finished 24-26 at the foul line and had just six turnovers while forcing 15 from Anna Maria.

Yuki Efosa led the AmCats with 16 points and nine rebounds, Nolan Serafin adeed 15 off the bench with 3-of-6 shooting from downtown, and Lucas Miglionico, who came into the game as the Cats leading scorer at 15.5 points, netted 10 on 3-9 shooting and 1-5 downtown.

Westfield led 38-32 at the half in a physical and up-and-down matchup.

The Owls jumped out to a 20-10 lead early after dribble handoff three from Rogers 9:00 into the first half, but the AmCats wouldn't let the Owls get away from them, trimming it it back to six with a three-pointer from Serafin.

Efosa led Anna Maria with 12 points in the opening half, while Rogers tossed in 14.

Westfield will be on the road for their next three games, traveling to Bridgewater on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip, before heading to Salem and Fitchburg State.

Anna Maria will host Fitchburg for conference game on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.