Record-Breaking Three Pointers Assist Worcester State in 93-81 Victory over Fitchburg State

WORCESTER, Mass. – On Saturday afternoon, two Worcester State University men's basketball records were broken as the Lancers danced to a 93-81 victory over Fitchburg State at the Kneller Athletic Center on the campus of Clark University.

Freshman guard, Alex Santos (Lawrence, Mass.) scored a stunning nine 3-pointers to break the Worcester State all-time record of 3-point shots made in a single game. The previous record was marked at eight by two fellow Lancers, Al Pettway (1993) and Kyler Ferreira (2013).

Overall, as a team, the Lancers broke the school record for 3-points shots made in a single game with 15. The previous record held was 14, which was made on January 11, 1994 also against the Falcons. As a team, the Lancers shot 48.4% from behind the 3-point arc, which surpassed their field goal percentage of 44.6% this afternoon.

In addition to Santos' amazing 3-point game, he also scored a career high 32 points while adding in five out of six free throw shots taken. "Alex was great from behind the line this afternoon as he played well with poise and confidence," stated head coach David Lindberg. "He had a big game and plays with no fear regardless of the situation."

Also adding to the three's was junior guard, Bilal Shakir (Worcester, Mass.) who scored a total of 25 points and added in five shots from behind the arc, going 10-for-16 (62.5%) from the field. Junior forward, Ryan DiBernardo (Springfield, Mass.) added a solo three, while he matched his career-high of 18 points, going a perfect 9-for-9 from the free-throw line.

On the defensive end, junior center, Paul Brooks (Arlington, Mass.) led the team with eight rebounds and seven blocks. Shakir logged seven rebounds, while DiBernardo and Marquez McKreith-Collins (Springfield, Mass.) had six apiece.

Fitchburg State's Jaleel Bell (Dorchester, Mass.) piloted the team as he scored 20 points and had eight rebounds for the Falcons. Leonny Burgos (Lawrence, Mass.) was right behind him with 17 points, going 7-for-9 (77.8%) from the field. Givaughn Jones (Dorchester, Mass.) and Kwame Lee (Brockton, Mass.) scored 13 points apiece, while Lee registered the only double-double of the game with a game-high 11 rebounds. Josh Bosworth (Springfield, Mass.) netted eight points, while Lance Hill (Springfield, Mass.) added in six.

Worcester State took the lead right off the bat, when Santos started his 3-point roll and made two within the first two minutes of play to bring the score to 6-4 in favor of Worcester State. Shakir then went on a ten point run, moving the Lancers up to a 16-7 score with 14:51 remaining in the first. Fitchburg's Jones and Kwame made back-to-back layups to tighten the score at 16-11 with 13:13 remaining.

Worcester State took their largest lead of 18 in the first half with 3:58 remaining on a jumper from Mustapha Koroma (Lowell, Mass.). Though, Fitchburg State cut the lead as they went on an 11-4 run on shots from Kwame, Bell, and Burgos to enter halftime with a score of 45-34 with the Lancers on top.

To begin the second half, McKreith-Collins came out and added three points on an and-one opportunity to put the Lancers up 48-34. Though, Fitchburg answered with two buckets by Jones and Bell. Worcester State kept their approximate 14 point lead, until 13:13 when Burgos started driving to the basket and put up six consecutive points for the Falcons.

With 7:14 remaining in the game, Fitchburg State started to comeback as the Falcons went on a 14-6 run to scratch the Lancers' lead to four with 2:29 on the clock. Though, another three pointer from Santos and good free throw shooting from the Blue and Gold led them to the 93-81 victory over the Falcons.

"This was a great bounce back win for us after having a tough loss last weekend," stated Lindberg. "The guys really worked hard all week in practice and I thought we played with great intensity today."

With the win, the Lancers improve to 9-7 (2-1 MASCAC), while the Falcons fall to 10-6 (2-1 MASCAC).

The Lancers have two upcoming home games as they will take on Bridgewater State on Wednesday (Jan. 20) and then Framingham State on Saturday (Jan. 23). Fitchburg State will return to play on Wednesday when they will travel to MCLA for MASCAC play.