Men’s basketball wins first playoff game in 15 years in spectacular fashion

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST

By Sophia Oppedisano Sports Editor By Taylor Kimmell Asst. Sports Editor After 15 years without a win in the playoffs, the Framingham State men’s basketball team defeated the Bridgewater State Bears in a nail-biter MASCAC quarterfinal game Feb. 25. This season, the Rams improved their overall record to 12-15 and their conference record to 5-7, continuing to steadily improve under the direction of Head Coach Donald Morris Jr. This was Morris’ fourth season with the Rams. The Rams just managed to knock the Bears down to the fifth seed in the MASCAC, taking the fourth seed for themselves with their upset win against the Worcester State Lancers Feb. 19. After the Rams were unable to secure a playoff bid last season, Logan Gymnasium was packed for the quarterfinal against the Bears. It was standing room only for students, faculty, and men’s basketball alumni. Senior JD Okafor stepped up to the center line and fed the ball back to his teammates, giving the Rams decisive control of the ball in the opening moments of the game. Both teams were quick to utilize full-court-press defense, but the Rams found their footing first as sophomore Dyree Rogers nailed a step-back jump shot in the paint to open scoring. Dyree Rogers and sophomore Joshua Saint Jean took turns bounding through the Bears' defense to lead the Rams on a 9-0 run in the first 8 minutes of the first half. The Rams’ bench was charged, feeding off the electricity from the performance of the starting five and the energy of their home crowd. On the other end of the court, the Bears refused to go quietly and countered with a 7-0 run. Josh Campbell, a sophomore and forward for the Bears, put up the first 3-point field goal of the game - silencing the home crowd. Campbell was one of the Rams' biggest foes throughout the game. He put up a game-high 23 points and went 4-8 on 3-point shots. The Rams began to falter slightly on defense, with Okafor and Dyree Rogers committing turnovers under pressure from the Bears’ press defense. Senior Adonis Vashon came off the bench for the Rams and put up a much-needed layup to bring the score to 11-7 before the Bears took command of the lead with three 3-point shots. Down 16-11 with 9 minutes to play in the first half, Framingham took a full timeout with Morris hoping to reset his team. The Bears’ press was stifling and the Rams could not get into the paint on the offensive end. A layup from senior Kyle Philistin breathed some life back into Framingham and brought the score to 19-13, but the defense continued to struggle defending 3-point shots from the Bears. “We talked about it even before the game - we know these guys can really shoot the ball. … We had to do a better job of running their shooters off the line and making the shots a little harder,” Morris said. With 2 minutes left in the first half, the Bears had scored 15 points off Framingham turnovers and their lead had grown to 35-19. Senior Jordan Howard, Hayes, Philistin, and Saint Jean combined on free throws, layups, and assists to cut the Rams' deficit to just 10 points. The buzzer sounded with the score 35-25 in favor of the Bears. During halftime, Morris said his focus was to get the team back to the “bread and butter” that made them so successful in the opening minutes of the first half. “Sometimes, we have these tendencies where we get away from what got us there. I always try to use the expression, ‘You just have to stay vanilla ice cream. Eventually, you can put a couple of sprinkles on top as the game goes along,’” Morris said. Returning to those basic principles of success during halftime resulted in the Rams coming out strong in the second half to begin adding sprinkles to the sundae. Okafor and Dyree Rogers hit two layups in the opening 60 seconds before Saint Jean drove powerfully through Bridgewater traffic to nail a dunk. The Bears countered with a layup and 3-point shot, taking a nine-point lead 40-31. The Rams quickly picked up the pace on defense, outdoing their performance from the first half. Okafor, Saint Jean, and Philistin used height to their advantage to pick up defensive rebounds and Philistin went up for a huge block against a Bridgewater 3-point shot. With 16 minutes left to play, Saint Jean achieved a double-double. He tallied 20 points and 16 rebounds, 12 of them defensive. Saint Jeans' standout performance this season earned him a spot on the MASCAC Men’s Basketball All-Conference second team. He finished this season leading the league with a field goal percentage of 61.4. The Rams and Bears traded possessions until the score stood at 45-42 in favor of the Bears with 10 minutes to play. Going into those last 10 minutes, Morris said he told his players, “This is what we wanted. We wanted a playoff game at home. We wanted to split [series] with everybody. Now here we are. So this is your moment - you have all the student body watching you. … Now it's your opportunity.” The home crowd saw the team come together to make their final push for an incredible comeback. “One of the things we harp on is opportunities are presented every day - it's what you do with them. … They latched on to that in that moment, and I think that's what made it successful. They made a lot of big plays and stepped up,” Morris said. With just under 10 minutes left, Philistin stepped to the 3-point line and took the game-tying shot. The crowd and the bench stood holding their breath, arms raised above their heads with thumb and pointer fingers touched together. The shot landed with an unmistakable swish and the gym erupted with palpable excitement and hope as the score stood tied at 45-45. Bridgewater tried to regain control and connected on two consecutive layups before trading possessions with the Rams for 4 minutes. The Bears added two free throws to make the score 53-46 and Framingham took a full timeout with 5:30 left on the clock. In a show of impressive defensive effort, the Rams stopped the Bears from scoring for the next 4 minutes. Saint Jean nailed a layup and Philistin hit another well-timed 3-point shot to bring the score to 53-51. Philistin was fouled shortly after and his resulting free throws tied the game. A layup and a jump shot from Okafor put the Rams solidly in the lead and Morris called a full timeout, nodding his approval as he stepped out on the court and high-fived his players. The clock wound down to less than a minute and the Bears made a 3-pointer bringing themselves within a point of tying the game at 61-60. Philistin hit two free throws to give the Rams a 63-60 lead but the game came down to Bridgewater’s best weapon - their 3-point shot. Bridgewater sophomore Sam Sweeney stepped to the line and got a shot off just as the buzzer sounded. His 3-point attempt arched through the air and bounced off the rim for Okafor to grab on a defensive rebound. Pandemonium ensued as the bench and the crowd rushed the court and history was made. “I think when I first came in, the big thing was trying to recruit the right kids to change the culture. … It's going in that direction. … The guys did a tremendous job this year,” Morris said. Unfortunately, the Rams’ win streak was cut short when a loss against the top-seeded Westfield State Owls Feb. 27 brought their season to an end. Westfield was first to put points on the board, freshman Kenneth Rogers Jr. scoring 2 points on a layup just 17 seconds into the game. Framingham’s first basket came during their second offensive possession, with Okafor scoring on a layup with an assist from Dyree Rogers off a defensive rebound by Saint Jean. Philistin and Hayes also contributed to the scoring during the first half, which, despite the Rams’ efforts, ended with Westfield at a 12-point advantage. Framingham worked toward decreasing the deficit during the second half. This was futile, as Westfield increased their score to 50 before the Rams could connect on another shot. The greatest point discrepancy came with 7:13 left in the game, when FSU lagged nearly 30 points behind. WSU’s defense remained vigilant as the seconds ticked by, proving difficult for the Rams to penetrate. Over the following minutes, crucial shots from Philistin, Vashon, Howard, Okafor, Dyree Rogers, and sophomore Geino Scaringello decreased the Owls’ advantage, bringing the Rams within 16 points of the lead as the final buzzer sounded. Westfield capitalized on their offensive opportunities, outshooting Framingham 73-42. Even so, FSU’s successful field goal percentage topped WSU's by over 10%. Four of the Rams’ players scored in double digits, Dyree Rogers contributing 14 and leading the team in points. Closely following were Philistin with 13 and both Okafor and Saint Jean with 11 each. Saint Jean narrowly missed the opportunity for a double-double, crashing the boards for nine rebounds. During too many offensive possessions, Framingham was unable to connect on shots, resulting in 27 turnovers compared to the Owls’ measly nine. These turnovers proved to be detrimental to the Rams’ side of the scoreboard, as they provided Westfield the opportunity to secure 58 points, 49% from the floor and 39% from behind the arc. This semifinal loss for the Rams secured the Owls a spot in the MASCAC Championship game, where they faced off against the Salem State Vikings and came away with the conference title. Framingham’s ability to put up such a fight against the conference’s top seeded team stands as proof of the program’s improvement this year and provides hope for the upcoming seasons.