Worcester State Hangs On To Beat Salve, 71-65

Worcester, MA –-- The Worcester State men’s basketball team got a double-double from senior Will Spont as the Lancers held off a late Salve Regina rally to defeat the visitors by the final tally of, 71-65, Thursday evening in Lancer Gymnasium.

January 10, 2008

Worcester State 71, Salve Regina 65

Worcester, MA --- The Worcester State men's basketball team got a double-double from senior Will Spont (Bellingham, MA) as the Lancers held off a late Salve Regina rally to defeat the visitors by the final tally of, 71-65, Thursday evening in Lancer Gymnasium. The Lancers improve to 7-5 on the year, while the Seahawks dip to 1-9.

Worcester State, who never trailed on the night, opened the game with a 12-2 run over the first 4:23 and led by as many as 18 points in the first half before Salve Regina nailed three treys over the final 6 minutes including a last second three ball by junior Justin Woodworth (Ipswich, MA) to close the halftime gap to, 39-33. The Lancer offensive attack was balanced with 8 players finding the scoring column led Justin Sheehan (Carver, MA) and Dave Douillette (Bridgewater, MA) who each had 7 points in the half. Woodworth was the catalyst for the Seahawks as he scored 15 points; all of them on three pointers.

In the second half, Salve got the Lancer lead down to 4 points over the first three minutes of the half but that would be as close as they would get. A 17-5 Lancer run over the next 10 minutes increased the margin to 16 points.

Worcester State led by 17 points with just 1:20 left, but Salve Regina took advantage of the Lancer reserves as they finished the game on a 14-3 run for the final, 71-65, score. Senior Chris Goodridge (Merrimack, NH) led the flurry with 8 of the 14 Salve Regina points.

Spont finished the night with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Fellow senior Ryan Frassica (Brockton, MA) also had 16 points in the victory followed by Sheehan with 10 points. Woodworth finished with 22 points including 6 three pointers for Salve Regina. Goodridge ended up with 17 points and 8 boards while Steve Walsh (Manchester, MH) totaled 14 points and 8 rebounds.

Worcester State returns to action on Tuesday when they begin MASCAC action at Fitchburg State College. Salve Regina will host Anna Maria on Saturday.