Published in The Beacon on March 5, 2020.
The men’s basketball team lost 96-72 in the semifinal round of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament to the Worcester State University Lancers on Thursday night.
“We ran into a buzz-saw right out of the gate. Worcester scored on its first four possessions and we came up empty. We were forced to play catch up the rest of the night and they never really let up,” said MCLA Head Coach Derek Shell.
The game opened with a pair of 3-pointers from Corey Oliver ‘22 and another from Sam Dion ‘23 to take a 9-0 lead. A turnover from Ki-Shawn Monroe ‘20 enabled Erik Bjorn ‘21 to make a layup, pushing the lead to 11 points two minutes into the game.
A few seconds later the Trailblazers were able to get onto the board with a Noah Yearsley ‘21 layup a few seconds later but the Lancers answered on the following possession after Yearsley fouled Bjorn. Bjorn hit both free throws.
The Trailblazers struggled to keep up through much of the first half, with 5:02 left to play the Lancers took a 24 point lead to go up 51-27. They would go on a 10-2 run after that but the Lancers still possessed a commanding 53-37 to finish the half.
MCLA started the second half with a burst of energy with Monroe hitting a 3-pointer on their first possession. Antoine Montgomery ‘20 followed it up with another 3-pointer two possessions later after grabbing an offensive rebound, cutting the lead to 12 points.
From there, Worcester began to pull away with the game. Trading scores on both sides, the Trailblazers were never able to cut the lead to single digits.
With 2:55 left to play, the Lancers took a 25 point lead on a pair of free throws from Chris Cardoso ‘21 effectively sealing their victory.
The win allowed the Lancers to advance to the championship round of the tournament where they lost to the Westfield State University Owls 81-77 on Saturday night.
The Trailblazers were led in scoring by guard Quitten Gittens ‘23 who came off the bench with 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 2 assists. In total, points from bench players accounted for half of the team’s overall points.
Montgomery contributed 13 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal. Monroe and Yearsley also scored double-digit points with 11 and 10 respectively.
36 of the Lancers points would come from inside the paint compared to the Trailblazers 28. They were also better on fast breaks where they outscored MCLA 21-11.
With the loss, the Trailblazers finished their season at 15-11 overall. While Thursday’s game didn’t provide the result that the team wanted, the coach was optimistic about the team’s outlook.
“It was certainly a disappointing end to a season that featured some standout performances and exciting finishes. While we didn’t reach our ultimate goal, we do feel the program took some significant strides in the right direction that we hope to build on going forward,” Shell said.
As the Trailblazers now set their sights towards next season, they will need to replace five graduating seniors. The team will be without guards Ki-Shawn Monroe, Antoine Montgomery, Damon Daniel, forward Victor Stewart, and center Hans Resignac.
For the coach, those seniors brought three distinct characteristics to the team.
“Experience, leadership and toughness,” Shell said.
