FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – Senior Jason Ganley (Northbridge, Mass.) scored a game-high 19 points, including the 1,000th of his career, to help pace the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball team to a season-opening 61-45 victory over Framingham State on Wednesday night.
Ganley became the 15th men's basketball player in Leopard program history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark in their career on a steal and layup with 38 seconds remaining in the contest. He had 12 of his 19 points in the opening half to help pace the Black & Gold to a 32-22 halftime lead.
After nearly three minutes with neither team scoring to open the game, Ganley got the offense going when he drained a three. However, Framingham State's Steve Vayda (Oxford, Mass.) and Manny Peyton (Fitchburg, Mass.) answered to give the home team a 5-3 lead 4:29 into the game. Sophomore Stephen Azums (Hyde Park, Mass.) responded with a layup which ignited a 6-0 spurt and gave Wentworth an 11-5 lead.
Framingham State jumped ahead 16-13 on a jumper from Kenny Seitz (Milford, Mass.) but the Leopards quickly responded with a 19-2 run and took a 32-18 lead after senior Cesar Fulcar (Watertown, Mass.) drained a three with 1:48 remaining in the half. During the run, Azums scored eight points and finished the opening stanza with 14 points to help Wentworth lead, 32-22, at the break.
Shooting 54.2 percent from the floor in the second half and holding the Rams to just over 30 percent shooting from the floor, Wentworth opened the second half with a three from Ganley and a layup from sophomore Matt Vartanian (Salem, N.H.) to extend the lead to 37-22.
Wentworth maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half and took its largest lead of the contest (18) after a Fulcar layup with 7:39 remaining made it 55-37. The Leopards matched that lead when Ganley scored his 16th and 17th points of the night with 2:39 remaining.
In addition to his 19 points, Ganley was one carom shy of a double-double, finishing with nine rebounds and also had a pair of assists. Azums was 8-of-14 from the floor for 18 points to go along with eight rebounds, while Fulcar finished with 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting. As a team Wentworth shot 47.3 percent from the floor for the game.
Tyri Hampton (Fitchburg, Mass.) scored a team-high 12 points for Framingham State. Seitz added 10 points while Trevor Manyak (Bolton, Mass.) finished with eight points.
Wentworth heads to Middlebury, Vt. this weekend for the Middlebury Tournament where the Leopards will square off against New England College on Friday afternoon.
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