WESTFIELD, Mass. – Junior forward Brian Clark (Deerfield/Frontier Regional) had game highs of 30 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots and Salem State University thwarted a final-seconds comeback by Westfield State University for a 68-66 road victory on Saturday, Feb. 5.

The Vikings improved to 12-6 overall and remained in sole possession of first place in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) with a 6-1 mark. Westfield is 8-13 and 4-4.

Salem led by four points, 68-64, and had the ball on an inbounds play underneath the Westfield basket with seven seconds remaining, but the Owls nearly pulled off a miraculous victory as the Vikings turned over the ball twice in the frantic final seconds.

Westfield's Eugene Turner (Lynn/Lynn English) deflected the ball out of bounds off Salem's Tavone Wynder (Boston/Newton South) on the inbounds play. Owl sophomore center Matt Devine (Pembroke) then made a layup for a 68-66 Salem lead with 5.6 seconds remaining.

Salem's inbounds pass following the Devine lay-in went out of bounds untouched near the Owl bench and Westfield was awarded the ball underneath its basket with 5.6 seconds still on the clock.

Following a Westfield timeout, Devine squared up and took a heavily guarded 3-point shot from the left wing that was on target but hit the front iron.

Turner grabbed the rebound underneath the basket with approximately two seconds remaining and missed the put-back while a Salem defender made contact with Turner's arm. Westfield point guard Lee Vazquez (Attleboro) grabbed Turner's errant shot and scored but Vazquez's put-back came well after the buzzer had sounded.

Salem led for most of the second half, with its biggest lead of nine points, 48-39, with 9:42 remaining. Westfield tied the score for the second and final time of the second half at 56-all on a 3-point basket by Vazquez with 4:50 remaining. But Salem held leads of 1 to 4 points the remainder of the game.

Westfield jumped out to an 8-3 lead with 12:50 remaining in the first half, but sparked by Clark's 18 first-half points the Vikings went on a 12-2 run to forge ahead, 15-10. There were five lead changes in the first half and Salem led at the intermission, 27-24.

Wynder was Salem's only other player in double figures with 16 points. Salem shot 48 percent from the field and Clark was 13 for 22 from the floor and 4 for 4 from the foul line.

Devine led the Owls with 23 points and seven rebounds. Freshman point guard Andrew Morgan (Somerset, NJ) had 12 points, four assists and two steals and senior forward Jesse Benoit (Granby, MA) finished with 10 points and six assists.