Rogers Records Career-High 32 Points, Owls Pummel Vikings 87-65

WESTFIELD, Mass. – Sophomore forward Kenney Rogers (Springfield, Mass.) scored a career-high 32 points as Westfield State outscored Salem State by 16 points in the second half to coast to an 87-65 victory in MASCAC action on the road Saturday afternoon.

The Owls remain in a tie for first place in the conference standings, improving to 5-1 in the league and 13-4 overall. The Vikings drop to 2-4 in the MASCAC and 9-8 on the season. The two sides played in the MASCAC Championship game a year ago with the Owls notching a 30-point victory in that game.

For Rogers, this marks the third straight game in which he has scored 25 or more points, generating a career-high mark while shooting 56 percent from the floor (13-23 FG). He also led the team with eight rebounds. Jason James (Ansonia, Conn.) followed with 15 points on 6-10 shooting and Joe Thomson (Sunderland, Mass.) was the third double figure scorer at ten points.

As a team, the Owls shot over 50 percent from the field for the second consecutive game and fourth time this season, checking in at 53.1 percent (34-64) which is nearly an identical percentage from their mid-week win over Bridgewater (53.9 percent).

Westfield continued their efficient ways with tremendous ball security as the Owls committed just seven turnovers on the day. Defensively, the Owls were active and caused 17 Salem turnovers which led to 28 points off turnovers, a plus-18 differential in that category.

The Owls controlled the majority of the game as there were only two ties and one lead change. The contest remained close at the midway point of the second half before the Owls went on a scoring spree. With 9:19 left in the second half, the Vikings got as close as five points after a three-pointer from Michael Makiej trimmed the deficit to 58-53.

Westfield responded emphatically with a 13-0 run to put the game out of reach. James jumpstarted the run with three consecutive layups including a reverse finish and a nifty euro-step to shake the defender, forcing a Salem timeout with the lead back into double digits with 8:10 remaining.

Rogers continued the spurt with a turnaround jumper, then after a Vikings missed shot, an outlet pass from Rogers found Keith Mency (Edgewater, N.J.) in the corner where he stuck a three-pointer to extend the lead to 16 points. Thomson punctuated the run with a layup, giving Westfield a 71-53 lead with six minutes to play, putting the game out of reach.

The Owls went on to score 14 additional points over the final five minutes of the game, leading by as many as 25 points after a great dish from Rogers to Thomson.

Westfield built a six-point lead at halftime due to the hot scoring start for Rogers who netted half the team's points with 20 as part of a 40-34 first-half lead. Zach Bingham (Okinawa, Japan) also provided a shooting spark off the bench, hitting two from deep.

Senior guard Tyrese Rho led the Vikings with 16 points off the bench, hitting both his three-point attempts and finishing 6-10 from the field. Makiej added 13 to add to 37 bench points scored by Salem. Jamel Walker was the lone starter in double figures for Salem, chipping in 11 points.

Westfield State will have play their third straight conference road game on Wednesday as the Owls travel to Fitchburg State to complete the first half of the conference rotation with tip-off set for 7:00 P.M.