Masciarelli Leads Men's Basketball Over Worcester State

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Lasell College men's basketball team saw a career-high night from sophomore Stefan Masciarelli (Northbridge, Mass.), who registered a game-high 31 points to help the Lasers earn their first win of the season as they defeated the Lancers of Worcester State 93-85 in a Thursday evening non-conference tilt.

Worcester State began the game with a 9-0 run on points from Cal Howes (Maynard, Mass.) and Will Watkins Jr. (Southbridge, Mass.). The Lasers came back with seven points on buckets from Masciarelli and Tim Blair (Newington, Conn.) to put the score at 9-7.

The Lancers maintained the lead until the Lasers knotted the score at 15-15 with 12:12 on the clock following a Brandon Vila(Jersey City, N.J.) layup. Worcester State responded with an Emeka Eguatu(Worcester, Mass.) layup and a triple from Amani Chambe (Providence, R.I.) to attain a five-point edge. Lasell did not falter, tying the score once again with 9:16 on the clock, but Worcester State once again took the lead on a Shaun McCarthy (Oxford, Mass.) layup.

The game saw its third tie of the game with 2:45 on the clock, and then its fourth with 1:45 on the clock after a Liam Jacobs (Plainfield, Conn.) free throw. The Lasers took their first lead of the game with 1:30 to go in the first stanza when they went on an 8-0 run ignited by a Jacobs 3-pointer to close out the half with a score of 47-39 in their favor.

Jacobs and Blair tossed in 18 and 16 points respectively for the Lasers, while Derek McMahon (Hatfield, Mass.) also reached double digits scoring with 12 points for Lasell.

Masciarelli came out of the break with a jumper following a steal from Victor Collazo (Clearwater, Fla.) to give the Lasers the largest lead yet of 10. Blair added to it with a pair of free throws, advancing the score to 51-39.

Worcester State slowly chipped away at the Lasers' lead as McCarthy made back-to-back moves in the post and Watkins Jr. made a pair of triples. The Lancers trailed by four with just 4:28 to go following a shot from Howes, before pulling within three with 2:22 on the clock with a Manny Green (Boston, Mass.) 3-pointer.

Lasell held on to the lead as they added five points to the scoreboard on a jumper and a triple from Masciarelli with less than two minutes to go. Worcester State attempted the comeback, but Lasell made five-of-six free throws in the last 30 seconds and capped off the night with and-one from Masciarelli to settle the score at 93-85.

Dannie Moore (Orlando, Fla.) and Masciarelli each had six rebounds in the victory, but the Lancers would narrowly beat the Lasers on the glass 40-39.

Next up, Worcester State travels to Northfield, Vt. to take part in the Ed Hockenbury Classic hosted by Norwich University. Lasell plays hosts to non-conference foe MIT on Saturday, December 2nd with Tipoff set for 3 p.m.

Parts of this release are courtesy of Worcester State Athletic Communications