The victory was Westfield State’s seventh straight and upped its record to 16-7. The Owls remain in sole possession of first place in the Mass. State Conference with an 8-2 record, a half a game ahead of Salem (7-2). Westfield has two regular season games remaining: at home vs. Framingham State on Feb. 16 and at MCLA on Feb. 18.
Fitchburg, 9-13 overall and 3-6 in the conference, jumped out to an early 11-2 lead. Westfield chipped away and led at halftime, 34-33.
The Owls never trailed in the closely contested second half, but the scrappy Falcons did tie the score twice: 46-46 with 11:24 remaining and 57-57 at the 3:37 mark.
But Westfield executed offensively in the closing minutes. Freshman reserve guard Matt Lynch (Braintree) converted a conventional 3-point play following a driving layup for a 60-57 Owl lead with 3:13 remaining.
Westfield expanded its lead to five points, 64-59, with 59 seconds remaining following two lay-ins by Ogbunize. Credited with assists on Ogbunize’s two inside baskets was junior point guard Gavin Illangakoon (Ellington, Conn.).
The Owls made five free throws in the final 36 seconds to survive the upset bid.
Westfield again had a balanced scoring attack. Dave Jaehnig – a 6-4 freshman guard from Quincy (Boston College High School) tallied 16 points to share game-high scoring honors with Ogbunize. Jaehnig also had seven rebounds and four steals.
Senior forward Mike Jurkowski (Belchertown) and Illangakoon both scored 10 points.
Sophomore guard Brian Skiffington (North Adams/Hoosac Valley) led Fitchburg with 15 points and five steals. Also scoring in double figures were Andrew Vayo (Waterville, ME) and Albert Ortiz (Fitchburg/Leominster) with 11 and 10, respectively.