Men's Basketball Blazes Past MCLA, 110-77

WESTFIELD, Mass.  Westfield State University got off to a running start in conference play, behind 28 points and 17 rebounds from Jauch Green, Jr. (Cromwell HS/Hartford, Conn), as the Owls ran past MCLA, 110-77 at the Woodward Center on Saturday afternoon.

Westfield State improves to 8-6 overall and 1-0 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, while MCLA is now 4-9, 0-1 in the MASCAC.

Westfield opened up the game midway through the first half with a trapping full court press, and extended its lead to 53-30 at the half.

The Owls kept the pressure up in the second half, leading by as many as 36 points before substituting liberally late in the half.  The Owls cracked the 100 point barrier with 3-1/2 minutes to play on a pair of free throws from Sam Traicoff (Beverly, Mass.).

Green continuted his strong play, posting 16 points and 12 rebounds in the first half.  He finished 9-19 shooting and was 10-17 from the foul line.  Green, a transfer from Western Connecticut, now has 960 career points between the two institutions.   Westfield had five players finish with double figure scoring, as Christopher Prophet (Central/Springfield, Mass.) added 16 points, and Marcus Collins (Rindge and Latin/Cambridge, Mass.) added 13 points and nine rebounds, and Malik Pouncey (Springfield Commonwelath Acad/Mattapan, Mass.) 13 points and six assists.   Junior forward Sean Moore (Agawam/Feeding Hills, Mass.) a walk-on who also serves as a goalkeeper on the Owls soccer team added 10 points and seven rebounds in 13 minutes of play off teh bench.

The Owls finished with 26 assists on 39 buckets.

The Trailblazers were led by 14 points from Shamar Logins (Newark, N.Y.), who went juyst 2-5 from the floor, but 10-12 from the foul line.  Michael Trancucci (Staten Island Acad./Staten Island, N.Y.) added 12 points and Antoine Montgomery (Hyde School/Boston, Mass.) had 10 points and five assists.  Victor Stewart (Leadership Acad./Boston, Mass.) also added 12 points.