Worcester State Men's Basketball Tops Wheaton College 95-89

WORCESTER, Mass. – Worcester State's junior guard, Bilal Shakir (Worcester, Mass.), helped the Lancers defeat the Wheaton College Lyons Tuesday evening at the Kneller Center on the campus of Clark University, as he recorded the game-high 32 points and tallied up eight rebounds, three assists, and one steal.

Shakir scored his points on seven 3-pointers, four baskets from inside the arc, and three at the free throw line. He came up one short to matching the Worcester State all-time record for amount of three-point shots in a single game (currently marked at eight by alumni Al Pettway ('93) and Kyle Ferreira ('13)).

In double-double figures for the Lancers, junior forward, Jamal Mustapha (Worcester, Mass.), racked up 20 points and 12 rebounds (nine defensive), adding in one steal on the night. Also an offensive threat for the Blue and Gold was senior guard, Manny Cabral (Roslindale, Mass.) and junior center, Paul Brooks (Arlington, Mass.) who scored 13 and 12 points, respectively. Junior forward, Ryan DiBernardo (Springfield, Mass.), guided the Lancers with a team-high four assists on the night.

On the boards, Mustapha recorded the team-high 12 rebounds, while Brooks and Shakir added in 9 and 8, respectively. Brooks ramped up four blocks against the Lyons' offensive end.

For the Lyons, senor guard, Billy Battaglia (Simsbury, Conn.), scored a team-high 27 points, as he is currently averaging 31.7 points per game. He also added in a team-high six assists and went a perfect 100 percent from the free-throw line (8-8). Also a high scorer for Wheaton, was junior forward, Quinton Dale (Winthrop, Mass.), who tallied up 18 points for the Lyons. Dale recorded a double-double on the night as he notched 13 rebounds (six offensively) and had five steals in addition to his points. Sophomore Ryan Fogarty (Wapole, Mass.) and sophomore Timothy Berry (Sterling, Mass.) had 15 and 10 points, respectively, while freshmen Matt Allegrezza (Westwood, Mass.) and David Carbonello (Windham, N.H.) recorded nine and eight.

The game was a rally, as each team battled in both halves - eight ties and 12 lead changes throughout the entirety of the game. Worcester State ended up ahead 49-40 at the half, and then Wheaton College came back to take the lead with just under 10 minutes to go in the second on buckets from Quinton and Battaglia. Though, the Lancers took the lead back minutes later when Shakir was on fire and made a jump shot and three 3-pointers to put the Lancers on top. It wasn't long after that Wheaton's Battaglia tied the score up on jumper, but Worcester State's Brooks gave the Blue and Gold the power, and eventually concluded the game with the Lancers besting the Lyons.

The Lancers overall shot 45.7 percent from the field, while the Lyons went 44.9 percent. With credit to Shakir, the Lancers' three-point percentage was at 50, while Wheaton's was at 21.1. Despite the shot advantage from the field, Wheaton College outshot the Lancers from the free throw line 82.1 to 63.3 percent.

Worcester State recorded their first win of the season and improve to 1-1. The Lyons received their first loss of their 2015-16 campaign and move to 2-1 on the season.

Next up the Lancers will travel to Amherst College for the Amherst College Tournament. The Lancers will begin play on Friday (Nov. 20) when they face Suffolk University. A championship and consolation game will be played on Saturday (Nov. 21). The Lyons look to entertain Regis on Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. start time.