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Salem

About the 2002 Division III
men's basketball tournament

Western Connecticut 92, Salem State 89
DANBURY, Conn. — Western Connecticut advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament following its 92-89 victory against Salem State in the first round of Northeast Regional at the O'Neill Center.

Senior guard Kevin Matthews led the way for the seventh-seeded Colonials (21-6), as he scored a game-high 29 points including 11 of Western Connecticut's 13 points to start the game. Matthews was 11 of 15 from the field and had a game-high five assists and four steals.

The Colonials saw their 13-point second-half lead evaporate as the Vikings went on a 28-14 run over the first 10 minutes of the final stanza.

Senior guard Jyima Ofori-Atta laid in two of his seven points to give ninth-seeded Salem State a 60-59 advantage with 10:15 remaining in the game.

From there, Matthews capped off a 15-8 run with two free throws at the 6:07 mark to give the Colonials a lead it would never relinquish.

After falling behind 90-83 the Vikings went on a 6-2 run to close out the scoring but came up short on a Ryan Connor desperation three pointer at the final buzzer.

Freshman sharpshooter Greg Cole scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half including a two-minute stretch where he connected on three of his five three pointers.

Sophomore Marvin Evans and senior guard Lenny Rinas added 16 and 11 points, respectively for the Colonials, which will travel to Amherst to meet the Jeffs in the second round, Saturday at 7 p.m.

Victor Paulino led the Vikings (21-7) with 27 points and connected on 15 of 21 free-throw attempts. Peter Szklarz chipped in 22 points for Salem State.

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