WESTFIELD, Mass. –  Junior guard Jesus Sanchez (Holderness School/Springfield, Mass.) scored a career high 25 points to lead Westfield State to a 71-55 win over local rival Western New England University in the opening game of the season for both squads at the Rick Martin Holiday Inn Express Tip Off Tournament at the Woodward Center on Friday evening.

Westfield led by as many as 12 in the first half on a three-pointer by sophomore Allister Williams (Bedford/Boston, Mass.) after Sanchez drove the baseline and floated a no-look pass out to Williams at the arc for a 27-15 Owls lead with 2:38 left in the half.

Westfield led 32-24 at the intermission.

Western New England rallied through the early stages of the second half, grabbing a 40-39 lead after a pair of free throws by Nathaniel Martin (Mahar/Orange, Mass.) with 12:06 left in the contest.

Westfield State led by 1, 48-47 with 8:19 to play, but then the Owls sprinted away from the Golden Bears with an 11-2 run capped by a Shane Pasquantonio (Ashland/Ashland, Mass.) layup that gave Westfield a 10 point lead with 4:26 to play. The Owls closed the door from there, never allowing the Bears within eight points for the remainder of the game.

Sanchez finished with 25 points on 8-15 shooting and 3-7 shooting from three-point range.  He added six rebounds.  Jose Allen (Amherst/Amherst, Mass.) chipped in with 14 points and four assists for the Owls and Philip DePhillipo (Mahar/Orange, Mass.) added eight points.

Western New England (0-1) was led by 16 points from Keith Pettway (Fairfield Prep/Bridgeport, Conn.) and nine from Luis Agrait (South Hadley/South Hadley, Mass.).

Westfield will play in tomorrow's championship game at 3:00 p.m.   WNEU will play in the consolation final at 1:00 p.m.