After winning their semifinal contests Thursday evening, the Westfield State Owls and Bridgewater State Bears will face each other for the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Men's Basketball Championship on Saturday.

#1 Westfield State 96, #4 Salem State 75

Box Score

WESTFIELD, Mass. - Westfield State's five senior starters each scored in double figures as the top-seeded Owls sailed to a 96-75 win over fourth-seed Salem State in the semifinals of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic conference men's basketball tournament at the Woodward Center on Thursday evening.

Westfield State advances to Saturday's MASCAC Championship game and will host Bridgewater State in the championship game on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The league tournament winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

Grant Cooper led the Owls with a near triple-double with 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Andre King added 23, Dan Johnson shot 6-9 from behind the three-point arc in adding 20 points. Classmates Robby Jones added 13 and Dan Tessier 10 for Westfield.

Westfield shot a blistering 70 percent from the floor, including setting a school-record an otherworldly 19-23 (82.6%) in the second half. The Owls also connected on 17 of 18 free throws.

Westfield led 39-29 at the half behind 13 points from Grant Cooper and 11 from Andre King.

The Owls opened the second half on a quick 5-0 spurt, as King drove for a layup on the first possession, and then a Cooper steal led to a transition three-pointer for Johnson to give Westfield State a 44-29 lead less than a minute into the second stanza. A Cooper follow up gave Westfield a 46-31 edge, and after a Salem free-throw, Tessier scored a transition layup to give Westfield an 18-point lead, 48-32, less than four minutes into the second half.

Westfield maintained that lead, delivering a knockout punch midway through the second half when Johnson and Tessier delivered a pair of three pointers less than 40 seconds apart to open the lead up to 23 points, 71-48.

Westfield improves to 19-6. The Owls have won six straight, the last loss coming at Bridgewater State in overtime on February 3, and 14 of their last 15 overall.

Salem falls to 14-13 on the season. Vikings senior guard Bryan Ortiz scored his 1,000 career point on a free throw late in the first half. He led the Vikings with 20 points, while Drew Healy added 18. Jon Perez tallied 11 points and Anthony Hodges 10 for Salem.

#2 Bridgewater State 93, #3 Fitchburg State 85  OT

Box Score

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Senior forward Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.) poured in a career-high 33 points to lead second-seeded Bridgewater State University to a 93-85 overtime victory over #3 Fitchburg State University in the semifinal round of the 2015 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Men's Basketball Tournament on Thursday night at the Tinsley Center.

With the win, the Bears (18-7) advance to the MASCAC Tournament Championship Game for the second straight season and sixth time in the last seven years.  BSU will travel to Westfield State University on Saturday afternoon to take on the top-seeded Owls at 3:00 PM. Westfield State posted a 96-75 win over #4 Salem State University in the other semifinal round contest.

Fitchburg State falls to 15-12 with the setback.  The Falcons will await word on a potential ECAC Tournament bid.

Lofton, who connected on 13 of 18 field goal attempts, also finished with 12 rebounds as he recorded his eighth consecutive double-double and 14th of the season.  Senior forward Kyle Gibson (Franklin,Mass.) added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Bears, while senior guards Justin Clark (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) and Barrett Murphy (Marshfield, Mass.) chipped in with 11 points apiece.

Fitchburg State junior guard Keyon Armstrong (Brockton, Mass.) led all players with a career-high 36 points.  Armstrong was on fire all game long as he finished 11 for 15 from the floor, including 7-for-11 from three-point range, as well as a perfect 7-for-7 at the free throw line.

Junior forward Givaughn Jones (Dorchester, Mass.) added 13 points and five rebounds for the Falcons, while sophomore forward Troy DaCosta (Cambridge, Mass.) tallied ten points and nine boards.

The Bears held a 40-34 advantage at the break despite Armstrong's 17 first-half points. Lofton paced the hosts with 14 points in the opening stanza, while Gibson scored ten.

Armstrong keyed a 14-3 Fitchburg run early in second half as the Falcons erased an eight-point deficit (42-34) to take a 48-45 lead.  Armstrong scored ten points during the spurt.

The Bears answered with seven straight points to reclaim the lead.  A Lofton traditional three-point play tied the game, while Clark followed with a lay-up and Murphy drained a pair of free throws to give the hosts a 52-48 lead at the 13:21 mark.

The Bears did not trail again in regulation but also led by no more than five points.

Leading by just two late in the game, Lofton made 1 of 2 free throws with 1:57 remaining to give the Bears a 72-69 lead.  Junior guard Anthony Muccioli (Nashua, N.H.) made 1 of 2 at the line on the Falcons' ensuing possession to make it a two-point game, 72-70.  Following a missed BSU three-pointer, DaCosta knocked down a lay-up off a nice feed from Armstrong to knot the score at 72-72 with 35 seconds left in regulation.

Out of time-out, the Bears had a chance to win the game but Lofton was unable to convert with time ticking down as the game headed to overtime.

In the extra session, a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Fawaz Mass (Taunton, Mass.) was answered by an Armstrong lay-up.  Lofton then made 1 of 2 at the line to put the Bears up 75-74.

Jones drove strong to the hoops to give their Falcons their first lead since early in the second half.  That lead was short-lived however as Gibson nailed a three-pointer to put the Bears back on top, 78-76. Following a stop, Gibson converted a pair of free throws to increase the BSU advantage to 80-76 with 2:56 remaining.  Two possessions later, Lofton made 1 of 2 at the charity stripe to make it an 81-76 game.

The Falcons would not go down without a fight as Armstrong drove to the hoop for a lay-up, was fouled and converted the free throw to cut the deficit to 81-79.  But Mass answered with a jumper to put BSU back up by four, 83-79.

FSU sophomore forward Jalen Williams (Meriden, Conn.) made 1 of 2 free throws with 1:17 remaining to make it a one possession game.  Lofton, however, converted a huge driving lay-up with the shot clock winding down to give the Bears the 85-80 advantage with just 49 seconds showing on the scoreboard.

A quick layup by Jones was answered by a pair of free throws by McGuinness with 35 seconds left.  Sophomore forward Michael Soares (Milford, Mass.) would put the finishing touches on the BSU victory with a pair of thundering breakaway dunks in the final 21 seconds.

For the game, the Bears shot 50% (29-58) from the floor and went 29-for-35 (83%) at the free throw line.  The Falcons converted on 47% (29-62) of their field goal attempt and connected on 20 of 25 (80%) free throw attempts. 

The Bears held slight advantages in points of turnovers (19-15), second chance points (10-7) and bench points (16-15), while points in the paint was even at 38 apiece.  The game featured 13 ties and eight lead changes.

Courtesy of Westfield and Bridgewater State Sports Information