Westfield, Mass - The Salem State Vikings bounced back today pulling out a 79-68 MASCAC men's basketball win over Westfield State with a great contribution from sophomore Shaquan Murray (New Mission/Boston, Mass.), who scored a team high 23 points.

This win keeps Salem State in first place in the MASCAC as they are now 15-9 overall and 9-2 in the conference. The Owls fall to 10-13 overall and are 4-6 in the conference.

The Owls struck first in this game with a pair of free throws from Jesus Sanchez (Holderness/Springfield, Mass.), but that did not seem to bother Salem. The Owls biggest lead of the game was just two points opening two minutes of the game, but then the Vikings never gave the lead back to the Owls.

The Vikings led by as many as 16 in the first half, mainly due to the scoring of the Vikings sophomore guards Murray and Jacob Lindland (Hamilton, Mass.), who scored 19 of Salem State's 21 opening points.

Owls' freshman guard Cam Earle (South Hadley/South Hadley, Mass.) provided a nice spark off the bench nailing a two triples in the first half but the two Viking guards were difficult for the Owls to control Salem's  big men would clean up with offensive rebounds.

It looked like the Vikings were going to go into halftime with a comfortable lead but the Owls did not back down. After the Salem brought the lead to 16, 35-19 with 4:26 to go in the first half the Westfield went on a run and cut the lead to 8 with the help of three-pointers from Earle and Sanchez.  The Vikings went into the locker room with a 39-31 lead.

The Vikings came out in the second half and struck first. Junior forward Marcus Faison (Cambridge Rindge & Latin/Cambridge, Mass.) had a strong second half for the Vikings as he contributed 15 second half points and seven second-half rebounds, three of which were offensive rebounds.

Throughout the second half the Vikings would go on a little run and then Westfield would respond and cut the lead down but it was not enough for the Owls.  Westfield cut the lead to as few as four points, 59-55 on Sanchez free throw with 8:51 to play, but Salem responded a few trips later with a 7-0 run which included a clutch three-pointer from Lindland.

The Owls were lead by junior guard Jesus Sanchez who scored a game high 26 points, nailing a couple triples and also shooting an impressive 10-11 from the free throw line. Shane Pasquantonio (Ashland/Ashland, Mass.) scored 13 off the bench for the Owls.   Brian Foley finished with four steals for Westfield.

Although the Owls shot 46% from the field, the Vikings did force the Owls to commit 23 turnovers.

Faison added 22 points and 15 rebounds and five assists for Salem, with Lindland finishing with 15 points on 4-8 three point shooting.

The Vikings will hit the floor again next Wednesday as they resume MASCAC play in their last game of the season vs. Fitchburg State. The Owls will hit the floor again also next Wednesday in MASCAC play in hopes to bounce back with a win against Bridgewater State University.

Westfield State honored seniors Brian Foley (St. Peter Marian/Worcester, Mass.) and Tchuijo Nkamebo (Amherst/Amherst, Mass.) in a pre game ceremony for their four-year contributions to the program.

-- by Matt Zarrella, Sports Information Intern