Strong Second Half Powers Men's Basketball Past Framingham State

BOSTON, Mass. – Junior Tommy Dooling (Mansfield, Mass.) came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points, going 6-got-9 from behind the arc, as the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball team defeated Framingham State (1-5), 82-50, in non-conference action Thursday night. Dooling was one of three student-athletes to score in double figures for the Leopards, who improve to 2-2 on the season.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

LEADING SCORERS:  Tommy Dooling, 18; Trey Carrier, 16; Thomas Hacker, 11
LEADING REBOUNDERS:  Carrier, 11; Hacker, 6
ASSIST LEADERS:  Sam Goy, 6; Dooling 5
NOTABLE:  Wentworth cracked the 80-point mark for the second time this season, both times coming in wins

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Framingham State took a pair of leads early, with freshman JD Okafor (Boston, Mass.) scoring four points in a 30-second span to give the Rams an 8-6 lead with 15:51 left. Wentworth responded with one of two free throws from senior Kyle Henseler (Coventry, R.I.) and a three-pointer from classmate Kevin Fernandez (Lawrence, Mass.) to give the Leopards a 10-8 lead.
• A jumper from sophomore Jahden Erold (Boston, Mass.) tied the game, and freshman Brett Okundaye (Boston, Mass.) gave the Rams a 12-10 lead with 11:05 left before the Black & Gold used a 15-5 run, capped off by a Dooling three pointer with 6:37 left. Sophomore Jalen Bruce (Springfield, Mass.) countered with a three of his own to cut the lead to five before a layup from senior Trey Carrier (Wilton, N.H.) and a transition three from Dooling pushed the lead to 10 with just under four minutes left. Framingham State cut the lead to six on two occasions, however, a three pointer from Fernandez with 2:11 left made it 35-26, which is how it would stay through the half.
• Carrier and Hacker opened the second half with baskets to push the lead to 13 before Okafor and Bruce got the Rams back to single digits. That would be as close as the visitors would come as Wentworth used a 27-9 run over the next 10-plus minutes to take a 66-39 lead on a layup from Hacker with 7:27 left.
• The Leopards' largest lead of the night (35) came on a freshman Tyler Stewart (East Taunton, Mass.) layup with 2:29 left. Wentworth shot 55.9 percent from the floor in the second half while holding the Rams to 26.7 percent from the floor, outscoring them, 47-24.
• Carrier finished with a double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds), while Hacker was also in double figures with 11 to go along with six rebounds. As a team the Leopards had 26 assists with sophomore Sam Goy (Derry, N.H.) dishing out six and Dooling adding five. Goy also recorded three blocked shots.
• Okafor was the only Ram to score in double figures as he tallied 12 points and hauled down 10 rebounds.

SERIES NOTES:

• Tonight marked the 11th all-time meeting between the two teams. Having won the last two series meetings and three of the last four, Wentworth leads the all-time series, 6-5.

NEXT UP:

• Wentworth opens Commonwealth Coast Conference play at home against Roger Williams on Wednesday, December 1, at 7:30 p.m. Framingham State hosts Suffolk on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

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