Men's Basketball holds off Rams 57-51 despite low scoring second half

North Adams, MA— The MCLA Men's Basketball team held off the hard charging Framingham State Rams 57-51 this evening in MASCAC action from the Amsler Campus Center Gym.  The Trailblazers earned the win despite going just 1-19 from the floor and scoring just 12 points in the second half.  In the process, MCLA (9-10 overall) earns the season sweep of the Rams and is now 4-4 in league play.  Framingham (3-19) drops to just 1-9 in the conference.

The hosts played very well in the first half and took a 45-27 lead into the locker room.  They shot a solid 56% in the half which included an 8-20 showing from three point land.  The second half was a completely different story.

Framingham State held MCLA without a field goal for more than 20 minutes of game action spanning the end of the first half and deep into the second.  In the process, the Rams began to chip away at the MCLA lead.  With the score at 46-31 early in the half, the Rams went on a 17-4 run covering 12 minutes of game action to slice the deficit to just 50-48.  The Rams had a chance to take the lead but would come up empty.  On MCLA's next possession, Quentin Gittens drew a foul and converted both free throws to give the hosts breathing room at 52-48, still with 3:35 left to play.

FSU wouldn't go away as Trevor Manyak made a difficult floater and then J.D. Okafor made one of two free throws to pull within one at 52-51 with 2:25 left.  The Trailblazers, desparately in need of offense, finally found it when Dylan Morris-Gray delivered from three with 1:37 left to push back to a four point margin.  The field goal would mark the only basket of the second half for MCLA.  Framingham had chances to answer but kept coming up short.  Forced to foul, the Rams put MCLA's Gittens on the line and the junior delivered with two clutch FT's to ice the contest and give MCLA the win.

Nobody could have foreseen the Trailblazer offensive struggles after MCLA shot a torrid 56% in the opening half to take command.  They led quickly 5-0 before the Rams answered with six straight to take an early 6-5 lead.  A few minutes later after FSU's Keith Hollman converted a jumper for an 11-9 lead, MCLA would go on a 17-0 run over the next four minutes to take control.

Hayden Bird started the run with a deep three pointer to give MCLA the lead.   He would hit another on the next possession and later on in the spurt convert again.  When Jojo Garcia let one fly from 25 feet and swished thru, MCLA led 26-11. 

The Rams would close to within nine at one point but still trailed 37-23 with 3:33 left to play.  MCLA's Bird would connect again, his fourth of the half and then Noah Yearsley would follow and MCLA led 45-25.  They would settle for a 45-27 lead at the half. 

For the game, Gittens led MCLA with 15 points and 6 assists.  Morris-Gray matched him with 15 points while Bird ended with 12.  MCLA ended the contest shooting just 37% and 10-26 from the FT line.

Framingham was paced by Keith Hollman's team best 15 point night.  Okafor ended with 13 points in defeat.  The Rams offense shot 41% but was hurt by their own 8-18 night at the charity stripe.

MCLA is back in action on Saturday when they head to Salem State to continue league play.