BOSTON, Mass. – Senior forward Malik Lorquet recorded his ninth double-double in 11 games this season, scoring 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting while pulling in 17 rebounds on the evening against Westfield State University as UMass Boston Men's Basketball used a late second half run to pull away from the Owls for the 85-74 victory at home on Thursday night.

THE BASICS 

UMass Boston 85, Westfield State 74

UMass Boston (8-3)

Westfield State (1-9)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

Applying the full court press early on, Westfield State took an early three-point lead, 8-5, after back-to-back baskets from senior guard Jeremy Remigio. A 5-0 run in response helped UMass Boston retake the lead and with the game tied back up at 10 points apiece, the Beacons would go on a 14-4 run, taking their biggest lead of the first half at 10 points, 24-14, with 11:10 remaining.

The Owls would work their way back into the game after falling behind 32-23 after a jumper from freshman guard Xavier McKenzie with 7:07 left. An 8-0 run led by two jumpers from senior forward JT Thompson, a free throw from senior forward Brendan Hamilton, and three from sophomore forward Timmy Jacobus helped Westfield State pull within one, 32-31.

However, UMass Boston would never surrender the lead in the first half despite the Owls pulling even twice. With the game tied at 39, the Beacons manufactured an 8-0 run to close out the opening 20 minutes with two free throws from Lorquet and back-to-back threes from sophomore guard Emanuel Zayas and McKenzie to head into the locker room with a 47-39 lead.

After senior guard Mariano Olivier-Rodriguez hit a three to start the second half, Lorquet would score the next 10 points for UMass Boston while Westfield State would slowly crawl back into the game, cutting their 11-point deficit down to one, 60-59, just over halfway through the second half.

Once again, the sharpshooting Beacons would respond as McKenzie came to life, scoring six of the next eight points for UMass Boston who went on an 8-0 run to regain a comfortable nine-point lead, 68-59. But the Owls would not go away as seven straight points from Thompson cut the Beacon lead down to two, 68-66, with 5:58 remaining in regulation.

Playing with four fouls, Zayas would nail a big three with UMass Boston ahead 70-68 to give them a five-point lead with 2:54 left. That three would spur a 15-6 run to close out the game as the Beacons would pull away for the 11-point win over the Owls at home, 85-74.
 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• With the 17 rebounds, Malik Lorquet now has 662 career rebounds, moving within 126 of tying the record set by Terry Kennedy (788) in the late-1980s and early-1990s
• Xavier McKenzie had himself another strong showing, going for 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting with two rebounds and going a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe
• UMass Boston once again shot north of 50%, finishing the game 31-of-59 from the floor (52.6%) and 40% from three-point range going 8-for-20 in the game
• This is the best 11-game start (8-3) for Head Coach Jason Harris to start a season during his time leading UMass Boston 

WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston closes out their schedule before the winter break with a Little East Conference matchup against Rhode Island College on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 PM at home inside the Clark Athletic Center. The Anchormen swept the Beacons last year in both matchups, winning by 13 points at home, 89-76, and three points on the road, 71-68.