Lancers Pull Away from Bears into MASCAC Semifinals

WORCESTER, Mass. – Worcester State doubled up Bridgewater State 42-21 in the second half to pull away from the Bears for a 79-53 victory in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men's basketball quarterfinals action on Tuesday evening at Brissette '88 Court.

The third seeded Lancers (15-11) advance to the MASCAC semifinals and will travel to #2 seed Salem State on Thursday evening. Bridgewater State, the six seed in this year's tournament, ends their year with a 4-19 mark.

Tyler Spencer (Pembroke, Mass.) hit a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give the Lancers a five-point lead at the break, and they carried that momentum into the second half, where they held the Bears to under 30% shooting while hitting 17-38 from the floor and 6-14 from three.

Zion Hendrix (Charlotte, N.C.) had 15 points, 9 of them in the second half, and dished out a team high five assists. Erik Bjorn (Holden, Mass.) had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and all five starters were in double figures for the Lancers.

Worcester used a 7-0 run early in the second half to stretch their lead to 12 points, capped by another triple by Spencer.

Tayjaun McKenzie (Boston, Mass.) got in on the action with a pair of second half three-pointers, the second of which extended the lead back to double-digits after the Bears had cut it to six on a layup by Max Schraut (Abington, Mass.).

That three was part of another run by the Lancers, this time a 9-0 run that stretched the lead back to 62-47. It reached 20 points with 4:55 to play on a steal and fast break layup by Sam Dion (Barre, Mass.), who had four thefts in the game, to go with four assists and 11 points.

A Hendrix theft led to another three by Dion, and the lead was 25, 74-49, with just 3:11 to play.

Bridgewater had three players in double-figures, led by the bench contributions of Justin Parsons (Portsmouth, R.I.) and Chibueze Chukwuezi (Attleboro, Mass.). Parsons had 13 points on 5-9 shooting, including 3-6 from three-point land, though the rest of the team went just 3-14 from behind the arc.

Chukwuezi added 12 points and grabbed six rebounds, while Quinton Champagne (Wrentham, Mass.) scored 11 points and filled the stat sheet with four rebounds, three assists and a block.

Ryan Rubenskas (Bridgewater, Mass.) scored 14 points and just missed a double-double with 9 rebounds, along with three assists, two steals and a block. Otis Wheeler (Worcester, Mass.) passed out four assists and had two steals and a block of his own.

The Lancers are back in the MASCAC semifinals for the second straight season, after reaching the MASCAC championship game in 2019-20, before last year was cancelled.