WESTFIELD, Mass. – A balanced offensive attack and a relentless defense powered the Westfield State University men's basketball team to the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) regular season championship with an 81-67 victory over Fitchburg State University on Saturday, Feb. 16.

The Owls won their first outright MASCAC regular season championship with a 10-2 record and will host a conference tournament semifinal game on Thursday, Feb. 21. Westfield shared MASCAC crowns in 2006 with Salem and 1985 with Fitchburg.

"It feels good to win the MASCAC," said Matt Devine, one of four seniors honored prior to the final regular season home game. "It's been our goal for four years. My freshman year we finished in last place so it feels real good to win and come in first.

"I feel really confident about the postseason tournament; we have home court and a great crowd so I expect good things," Devine added.

The Owls improved to 21-4 overall for the second most victories in school history. The 1993 NCAA Tournament team posted a 22-6 record.

Westfield's balanced scoring featured five players in double figures, led by the non-stop backcourt duo of senior Lee Vazquez and sophomore Jordan Santiago. They shared team-high scoring honors with 16 points apiece. In addition, Vazquez had five assists and four steals and Santiago registered five steals.

"Those two just wear opponents down; they are outstanding defensive players," said Westfield head coach Rich Sutter.

Devine, a 6-7 center who led the nation in blocked shots last year, nearly posted another double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Devine also had game highs of four blocked shots and six steals.

"Matt Devine had another outstanding defensive game," said Sutter. "He's tough, people are afraid of him."

Team-wise, the Owls racked up racked up 17 steals in their suffocating full court defense and forced 26 Fitchburg turnovers.

Also scoring in double figures for Westfield were sophomore forward Grant Cooper (16 points) and senior forward Ryan White (11 points). Cooper contributed a game-high six assists.

Fitchburg outscored Westfield from the field by three points, but the Owls marched to the free throw line 40 times and made 26. Vazquez was 12 for 16 from the charity stripe; Cooper 8 for 14. Fitchburg, meanwhile, was 9 for 15 from the foul line.

The Falcons were led by 6-8 senior Zach Valliere, who scored a game-high 18 points and tied Devine for game-high honors with nine rebounds. Mike Ingram-Rubin was the other Falcon in double figures with 11 points.

Devine scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half to lead Westfield to a 36-31 lead at the break.

The Owls led by single digits for most of the first half but the Falcons took a 27-26 lead on a Valliere layup at the 6:02 mark. Westfield finished the half with a 10-4 run.

Westfield held several double-digits leads throughout the second half but Fitchburg kept within striking distance. The Owls led 62-48 with 8:57 remaining but the Falcons sliced the deficit to six points, 71-65, with 2:28 remaining. The Owls then scored 10 straight points, including eight free throws, to clinch the conference crown.