WESTFIELD – Westfield State University offers a comprehensive history program, but this past weekend one of their student-athletes schooled the competition.
Westfield State sophomore forward Kenney Rogers, of Springfield set a school-record with 52 points in a game in the Owls 106-88 men’s basketball win over Bridgewater State University.
Rogers (Springfield International Charter) broke a 57-year-old school record of 50 points set by Ray Glynn in a 1969 game against Nichols College.
Rogers was just 3-of-10 in the early going before he got everything rolling but finished the day 20-of-37 from the floor, 4-of-11 from 3-point range, and 8-of-14 from the foul line. He grabbed 12 rebounds and handed out five assists as well.
Rogers scored 20 in the first half, helping stake the Owls to a 50-34 lead at the intermission.
Westfield State had a comfortable lead throughout the second half. Rogers’ 37 field goal attempts in the game were also a school record, and his 32 in the second half were one off the record mark for points in a half.
“I didn’t realize Kenney had as many as he had at the time, because he had been so efficient driving the ball hard at the basket,” said Westfield State head coach Rich Sutter. “He was very dynamic, hit a couple from outside, and was a whirling dervish around the basket. When he got to 40 with about four minutes left, we called time out and informed everybody what we were doing, and we weren’t going to come out of the game without Kenney getting a shot at the record. The team was 100 percent invested, the crowd was terrific, and it ended up as a special moment for our program and the Rogers family.”
“Today was a more efficient game,” said Rogers. “I knew I was getting close to the record when I had 40, then I had to go for the record.”
The 52 points in the game tie for the most in a Division 3 game this season.
The school record “means a lot, my teammates are the ones who helped me, they gave me the ball for the rest of the second half, I kept chucking and shooting and shooting ‘til I got there – it means a lot,” said Rogers.
Rogers now has 976 points in less than two full seasons with the Owls, and is averaging 20 points per game, 8.2 rebounds per game, and 4.6 assists per game this season.
“He’s our go-to guy, but because Kenney Rogers is very sharing with the basketball, he’s very unselfish, and such a good passer it makes it easy to coach him all around.”
“I didn’t know if [the single-game points record] was one we could get,” said Sutter. “It had stood for such a long time. But if anyone was going to do it it was Kenney Rogers, where we could get him in the open floor and let him do his thing.”
The Owls single game record had been unassailable for more than 50 years. While the single game marks aren’t complete beneath Glynn’s big day, Sean Williams registered 44 in a game in 1990, and Lee Vazquez hit for 41 in a game in 2012 are among those that came close.
The record-setting performance today was not without some drama late. Rogers had 49 points and went to the foul line with 41 seconds left in the game, and made 1-of-2, banking in his second shot to tie Glynn’s record mark.
On the ensuing possession, Rogers cherry-picked on the Bridgewater possession leaking out early, and Joe Thompson cleared the rebound, outlet the ball to A.Z. Allah on the right side of the court, who fired a pass ahead to Rogers who flew over the late-rushing Bridgewater defender for the record layup with 23 seconds left in the game before being mobbed by his teammates in celebration as the Owls called timeout.
The 52 points ties the facility record at the Woodward Center with former Westfield State women’s basketball standout Jill Valley, who scored 52 in a win over Worcester State in 2017.
The Owls got great supporting-role performances from senior forward Joe Thompson (Belchertown/Frontier), who scored 18 points and grabbed 19 rebounds for the second straight game. Jason James (Ansonia, Conn./Westminster School) added 17 points and seven rebounds, and Keith Mency (Edgewater, N.J.) finished with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor.
Westfield State outrebounded Bridgewater 52 to 38 to help fuel the scoring chances. The Owls shot 50 percent from the floor in the game.
“I thought Jason James was terrific today, possibly his best all-around performance. We didn’t have X [junior point guard Xavier Lewis] at all today, and when A.Z. [Allah] got two early fouls, James really helped us steady the ship and was solid all-around,” Sutter said. “Joe was named a captain earlier this week by [assistant coach] Wes Jackson and myself. He is really growing in this program and just keeps getting better and better, and he’s an absolute joy to coach.”
Bridgewater (7-16, 5-7 MASCAC) was led by a near-triple-double performance from senior guard Dante Kikuba, who came off the bench to score 18 points, grab nine rebounds and hand out nine assists. Jamaal McConnell and Sam Sweeney each had 15 for the Bears.
Westfield State improved to 18-5 overall and 10-2 in the league to hold on to first place in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference standings.
“We’re in first place,” Rogers said. “We want to take our time, prepare on Monday for Salem and try to clinch first seed on Wednesday.”
