Framingham rallies for win over Wildcats

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Framingham State rallied from a ten point deficit in the second half to defeat the Wheelock Wildcats 58-52 Thursday night at Pine Manor College. Senior Darius Yarrell (Brockton, Mass.) led the Rams with 15 points while Junior Brendan Carter (South Boston, Mass.) recorded four of the Rams ten blocks on defense and grabbed a team-high ten boards. Wheelock junior Dan Main (Hopedale, Mass.) was 11-12 from the free throw line on his way to a game-high 18 points for head coach John Preziosa’s team.

The game see-sawed back and forth for most of the first half, with five lead changes before a technical foul on Fitchburg State put Main to the free-throw line with the Wildcats trailing by three points at the 5:13 mark. Main nailed both shots and followed that with two more after another foul by Fitchburg. The Rams took the lead back with 1:00 minute remaining in the first half on a jumper by Yarrell, but Wheelock sophomore Max Kaim (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) hit a jumper from the top of the key as time expired to give his team the one point advantage heading into the locker room.

Wheelock put together an 11-2 run mid-way through the second half, highlighted by six points from Main to take a 41-31 lead with 9:39 remaining in regulation. The Rams battled back though, and tied the game at 50 on a free-throw by Carter with 2:57 to go. The Wildcats had three opportunities to reclaim the lead as Kyle Pierce (Burlington, Mass.) and Sherard Robbins (Malden, Mass.) each came up with offensive rebounds on the next possession. But Wheelock couldn’t get a shot to fall and the Rams increased the lead to four points on a pair of free throws by Yarrell with 37 seconds remaining.

Roderick Jackson (Cambridge, Mass.) and Josue Almodover (Holyoke, Mass.) were also in double-figures for Framingham State with 12 and ten points respectively. Robbins pulled down a game-high 11 boards for Wheelock while Kaim scored 14 on the night.

The win improves the Rams record to 10-9 overall while Wheelock falls to 12-8 on the season. The Wildcats return to conference action Saturday night when they travel to Lesley University for a 7:00 pm showdown.