Men's Basketball Falls to Salve, 71-65

WESTFIELD, Mass. –  Salve Regina University closed out the game with a 16-3 run over the final five minutes of play, and the Seahawks Sean Seymour scored 18 points to lead Salve to a 71-65 win men's basketball non-conference win over Westfield State at the Woodward Center on Saturday afternoon.

Salve improves to 8-2 on the season, while Westfield State is 8-3.

Westfield led the Seahawks 35-26 at the half, and improved that lead to as many as 12 early in the second half.

Salve wouldn't go away, however, and the Owls led 62-55 after Xavier Lewis fed Joe Thomson for a layup with 5:22 left in the game.

Seymour answered immediately with a three-pointer to cut the lead to four, and two minutes later a Seymour jumper gave the Seahawks their first lead of the second half, 63-62.

A bucket from Kenney Rogers gave the Owls a 64-63 lead with 3:13 to play, but that would be the last field goal of the game for Westfield State.   Zavier Francouer's layup with 2:46 left to play gave Salve the lead for good.

Rogers led Westfield with 21 points, six rebounds and and six assists. Joe Thomson added 14 points and nine rebounds, and A.Z. Allah finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Seymour was 4-7 behind the three-point arc, leading five Seahawks in double figures in scoring.  Domenic Malvey added 13 and Jack Margoupis netted 12.

Salve got 15 points off the bench, compared to six for the Owls.  The Seahawks were 10-10 from the foul line while the Owls finished 6-12.

Westfield will tip off conference play at Framingham State on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.