Trailblazers drop second straight on the road, lose at Framingham 75-68

Framingham, MA- The MCLA Men's basketball team dropped their second straight road game, falling to host Framingham State 75-68.  With the setback, MCLA is now 15-7 overall, 6-4 in the MASCAC.  Chris Harris led MCLA with 15 points.

Framingham guards Royce Veal (Dorchester, Mass.) and Marcus Mclaurin (Briantree, Mass.) poured in 20 points apiece to lead the Rams.

With the win, the Rams improve to 9-13 on the year and 5-6 in the MASCAC which puts them in the fourth position in the conference standings heading into the final week of the regular season, while the Trailblazers move to 15-7 on the year and are alone in second place, pending the outcome of the Bridgewater State game which is being played this evening, at 6-4 in the conference.

Veal picked up his third double double of the season with a game-high 11 boards to go along with four steals and three assists, while Mclaurin filled the stat sheet with seven boards, four steals and two assists.  Freshman Tyrone Figeuroa (Revere, Mass.) added 17 points including 15 in the second half during the Rams comeback.

Aside from Harris, senior guard Benny Cuprill (Albany, NY) chipped in 11 points including a pair from long range to go along with three assists and two steals.  Senior center Jon Greenberg was plagued with foul trouble but chipped in a team high 11 boards.

In a back-and-forth first half that saw four lead changes, the Trailblazers used a 10-1 run capped by Harris trifecta to take the half's largest lead at 34-27 with 2:49 remaining.  The Rams answered with a mini run of their own to pull within three at the break (34-31) on a pair of Mclaurin free throws.

The game continued to go back-and-forth in the second half with the Trailblazers maintaining a small lead a small lead until the Rams tied the game at 47-47 with 9:11 remaining and took the lead for good on a pair of freebies by Yemi Ajao (Randolph, Mass.) at 8:50. 

Ajao followed up with a tough three-point play in the paint and a pair of free throws and layin from Figueroa pushed the Rams lead to seven. 

The Trailblazers clawed their way back and pulled within two at 64-62 on a Cuprill three pointer with 3:55 remaining, but the Rams pushed the lead back to five and held on for the win. 

The Rams capitalized on 29 Trailblazer fouls in the game as they took 40 free throws to just 19 for MCLA.  The Rams connected on 72.5 % from the line with Veal hitting 8-of-10 and Mclaurin 7-of-9.  The Trailblazers held a 40-38 advantage on the glass but committed 30 turnovers to just 22 for the Rams.

Both teams return to MASCAC action on Tuesday as the Rams host Westfield State at 7:30 p.m. and the Trailblazers travel to Fitchburg State at 7:30 p.m.