Men's Basketball Holds Off Fitchburg, 84-72

WESTFIELD., Mass. –   A.Z. Allah scored 23 points to lead the way, as Westfield State battled to an 84-72 win at Fitchburg State in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball game on Wednesday night.

Westfield improves to 14-4, 6-1 in the conference and holds on to first place in the league standings.     Fitchburg State is now 9-9 overall and 3-4 in the league.

The game was a back and forth battle for most of the evening, with Westfield jumping out to an early lead, but Fitchburg State took a 36-32 lead into the locker room at halftime after a late three pointer from the Falcons' Matthew Drayton.

The Falcons opened the second half with a triple from Nicholas Von Zboray to lead 39-32, a lead that Fitchburg would push to eight points, 51-43 on Braeden White's layup with 14 minutes left.

From there, the Owls would flip the momentum, outscoring the Falcons 20-3 over the next 6:50.   Westfield pounded the ball inside, with Joe Thomson and Kenney Rogers combining for 18 of the 20 points in the burst, taking a 63-54 lead on Thompson's layup off a feed from Allah.

Westfield couldn't shake the Falcons, who kept the lead in single digits, and trailed 75-67 when Rogers fouled out with 2:25 left in the game.   Westfield worked the clock on the next possession and got a clutch jumper from Keith Mency to boost the lead to 10 with less than two minutes to play and the Owls held on late for the win.

Allah finished the day 7-15 from the floor and 8-9 at the foul line as four of the Owls five starters scored double figures.  Rogers added 21, Thomson posted 19 points and nine rebounds and Xavier Lewis scored 11.

Westfield outscored Fitchburg 52-36 in the second half.   Jalen Jackson led the Falcons with 20 points, with Von Zboray adding 10.

Westfield will be back in action at home on Saturday after three consecutive road games, hosting Framingham State at 2:00 p.m. as part of a conference doubleheader.