Salem State Defeats MCLA In Hard Fought Battle

By Jeffrey Puleri
MCLA Sports Info
09:28AM / Wednesday, February 01, 2012

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' men's basketball team cut a 16 point second half deficit down to two points with under two minutes to play but went scoreless the rest of the way as visiting Salem State University pulled away with a hard fought 87-78 MASCAC victory on Tuesday.

The Vikings improve to 13-7 overall, 6-2 in the conference. MCLA drops to 7-13, 4-3 in MASCAC action.

After Salem State used a 32-9 spurt to end the first half en route to a 45-33 halftime lead, the Vikings extended that margin to sixteen points at 51-35 with 17:15 remaining in the contest. MCLA would trim the margin under ten points on a few occasions, only to see Salem extend back out to a comfortable lead each time.

With the score 75-63 in favor of Salem with 5:53 left, MCLA began to battle back. They would outscore Salem 15-5 over the next four minutes cutting the margin to just 80-78 with 1:54 to play. Viking guard Justin Nieves converted a pair at the line to stretch the lead to four on the next possession. MCLA had a pair of chances on their end, but came up empty before committing a foul.

Salem's Apollos Wade knocked home one of two and after another stop, he would make a pair to stretch the lead out to 85-78 with just 41 seconds left. A missed three pointer by MCLA's Chris Harris put Salem back at the line to salt the game away.

The opening period saw MCLA in control early, leading by as many as eleven at 24-13 with 10:58 until halftime. Salem used a powerful 32-9 run to finish the half and take command. The Vikings' Nate Simpson led the first half charge finishing with 16 points in the period, including four three pointers.

Salem placed four players in double figures led by Brian Clark's 23 points on 8-10 shooting. Simpson filled the stat sheet, finishing with 22 points, a game high 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Other Vikings in double figures were Nieves and Dan Clark with 10 points each.

For MCLA, Jamal Brown continued his torrid scoring pace dropping 27 points and grabbing 8 boards. He was the only Trailblazer in double figures. Chris Harris added 5 assists in the loss.

MCLA is back in action when they hit the road to face Worcester State on Saturday night at 5:30 p.m.