Men's Basketball drops second straight MASCAC tilt, falls to Lancers

Worcester, MA— Lancer Chris Cardoso scored 25 points and posted a near triple double to lead the Worcester State men's basketball team to a 96-71 win over the MCLA Trailblazers on Brissette Court this afternoon.  The Lancers improve to 7-9 overall but more importantly move above .500 at 2-1 in the MASCAC.  MCLA drops their second straight as they're now 6-8 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

Worcester never trailed in the opening half of play as they quickly jumped out to a 10-2 lead forcing a quick timeout.  MCLA would claw back to get within 17-13 after a Dylan Morris-Gray layup, but the Lancers answered with a 9-0 spurt capped by Erik Bjorn's drive to take a 26-13 lead.

Worcester would lead by as many as 22 at 40-18, but would settle to hold a 43-28 lead at halftime.

Early in the second half the Lancers would keep the lead well into double figures.  With just under ten minutes to play, Sam Dion would knock down a triple to make it 74-49 for the largest lead of the day up til that point.  MCLA never threatened the rest of the way and the Lancers cruised home.

Cardoso was 8-18 from the floor for his game best 25 point night.  He filled the stat sheet with 10 rebounds and 7 assists in the win.  Dion heated up in the second half as he tallied 21 points, 18 of which came in the second half.  Both players were 4-6 from three point range.  Erik Bjorn ended with a double double of 18 points and 12 boards.

MCLA placed four players in double figures led by Noah Yearsley's 15 point night.  Dylan Morris-Gray and Hayden Bird each ended with 14 points while Reece Racette chipped in with 10.

The Lancers owned a decisive 46-26 mark on the glass and held MCLA to just 34% shooting.

MCLA is back in action on Monday night as they make up a conference game with Fitchburg State at 7:30pm at home.

Release courtesy of Jeff Puleri
MCLA Sports Information
j.puleri@mcla.edu