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Fitchburg State Tripped Up 93-81 by Worcester State
January 16, 2016

Fitchburg State Tripped Up 93-81 by Worcester State

Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Fitchburg State University men's basketball team had its four-game winning streak snapped after a 93-81 loss to MASCAC rival Worcester State at the Kneller Athletic Center on the campus of Clark University.

Lancers freshman guard Alex Santos (Lawrence, Mass.) scored nine 3-pointers to break the Worcester State all-time record of 3-point shots made in a single game. As a team, the Lancers shot 48.4% from behind the 3-point arc. Santos scored a career-high 32 points while adding in five out of six free throw shots taken.
Also adding to the threes 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 10-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.). 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. Fitchburg answered with two buckets by Jones and Bell. Worcester State kept their 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 come back as the Falcons went on a 14-6 run to slash the Lancers' lead to four with 2:29 on the clock. Another three-pointer from Santos and good free-throw shooting from the hosts led them to the 93-81 victory over the Falcons.
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. (Release courtesy of Worcester State Sports Information)