Westfield State Squeaks By No. 20 Men’s Basketball, 73-69

Box Score

CHICOPEE, Mass. - Elms College senior point guard Juan Maldonado (Holyoke, Mass.) nailed a three-pointer with five seconds left, but Westfield State College guard Roy Jimenez (Brentwood, N.Y.) converted 3 of 4 foul shots in the final seconds to seal a hard-fought 73-69 victory over the 20th-ranked Blazers in Saturday evening’s Pioneer Valley Classic men's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the loss, Elms moves to 5-1 on the season, while Westfield State improves to 5-2 overall.

Trailing 58-67 with 2:16 left in the game, sophomore guard Bryant Corcoran (Wolcott, Conn.) sparked the Blazers' furious rally, draining a three-pointer to cut the gap to 67-61. After a missed layup by Westfield State, Maldonado cut the gap to three when he delivered his seventh trey of the evening, making the score 67-64 with 1:05 left.

The Owls extended their lead to four when Jimenez hit the front-end of two free throws with 21 seconds left to give Westfield a 68-64 lead. Elms senior forward Javon Mathis (East Hartford, Conn.) then scored on a layup with 12 seconds remaining to bring the score to 68-66. A Blazers' foul with seven ticks left sent Westfield State guard Derek Leab (Shrewsbury, Mass.) to the line where he converted a pair of free throws to put the Owls back up by four at 70-66. From there, Maldonado buried his eighth three-pointer of the contest to pull to within one with five seconds left, but Jimenez's three free throws in the final seconds secured the victory for Westfield State.

Maldonado finished with a game-high 30 points, highlighted by an 8 for 15 effort from beyond the arc. Corcoran added three from three-point land and finished with 13 points in the game, while Mathis contributed 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman guard Andre French (Torrington, Conn.) handed out five assists and added four steals in the losing effort.

In the opening period, the teams fought to seven ties and seven lead changes with neither team gaining more than a four-point advantage.

Trailing 29-28 with 56 seconds left in the first frame, Maldonado hit a three-pointer and added a pair of free throws to give Elms a 33-29 edge at intermission.

The Blazers used a 12-7 run to start the second stanza, giving them a 45-36 cushion with 13:07 left in the period, before Westfield answered by scoring 15 of the next 21 points to knot the contest at 51-51. A Maldonado three-pointer with 7:45 left gave Elms its final lead of the game as a bucket by Leab at the 6:21 mark put Westfield State up for the remainder of the contest.

Jimenez finished with a team-best 15 points, while Leab netted 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Center Matt Devine (Pembroke, Mass.) scored 11 points and a team-best eight rebounds, while guard Anthony Griffin (Winthrop, Mass.) contributed 10 points and a game-high six assists in the winning effort.

Westfield State took advantage of free throws, hitting 29 of 37 (78.4 percent), while limiting the Blazers to just seven attempts at the stripe. The Owls also received 26 points off the bench, while holding the Elms bench to just three points.

Elms returns to the hardwood on Thursday, Dec. 10 when it hosts Wheaton College. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m. at Picknelly Arena.

2009 Pioneer Valley Classic All-Tournament Team
MVP
Roy Jimenez (Westfield State)
Team
Roy Jimenez (Westfield State)
Derek Leab (Westfield State)
Juan Maldonado (Elms)
Javon Mathis (Elms)
Conor Meehan (Amherst)
Pat Crean (Springfield)