Bridgewater State 73, Worcester State 59
Bridgewater, MA --- Junior forward Nicholas Motta (Fairhaven,
MA) posted a double-double with 28 points and ten rebounds to lift
the Bridgewater State College men’s basketball team to a
73-59 victory over Worcester State College in MASCAC Tournament
semifinal action this evening in Bridgewater.
The top seeded Bears (18-7) advance to the conference championship
game as they will host number two seed Framingham State College on
Saturday at 2 PM. Framingham defeated Salem State College in the
other semifinal matchup, 78-70. Worcester State ends the season
with an overall record of 13-14.
Motta, the MASCAC Player of the Year, connected on 11 of 19 field
goal attempts and was 4-for-6 from three-point range. He also added
an assists and three steals, and three of his ten rebounds came off
the offensive glass.
Junior forward Judah Jackson (Everett, MA) added 19 points for the
Bears to go along with two blocked shots. Senior point guard Matt
McLaughlin (Rochester, MA) chipped in with six assists, six
rebounds, three steals and four points, while senior center Chris
Dijak (Lunenburg, MA) pulled down ten boards and blocked two
shots.
Senior forward Maurice Horton (Detroit, MI) and
freshman guard Tim Henault (Lunenburg, MA) tallied
ten points apiece for Worcester State. Junior forward Dave
Douillette (Bridgewater, MA) added eight points, eight
rebounds and three assists.
With BSC up 11-7 eight minutes into the contest, the Bears used an
8-0 surge – which included consecutive trey’s during
the run by Motta at the top of the arc – to open up a 19-7
lead at 11:08. Worcester State would get back into the game and
whittle the deficit down to two points with a 14-2 spurt as the
Lancers trailed, 23-21, with 6:25 left.
Bridgewater State held a four point cushion two minutes later
(29-25) and employed tenacious defense to outscore the visitors by
an 11-5 margin to close out the half with the 38-30 advantage.
BSC picked up right where they left off and utilized a 9-4 spurt
to take a 47-36 advantage early on in the second stanza. Worcester
State would make one final push with a 6-0 run to pull to within
47-41 with 11:57 remaining, but the Bears would soon bring the lead
into double digits using a 10-0 burst to open up a 57-41 edge with
9:10 to go.
Bridgewater State led by double-figures the rest of the way and got
up by as many as 20 points (71-51) with four minutes left (71-51).
The Bears only outscored Worcester State, 35-29, in the second
frame.
Horton ends his career with 1,110 points which is good for 15th on the all-time scoring list as he passed Jim Reddick's (1970-74) total of 1,102 this evening.
Bridgewater Stateattempts. The Bears held a 38-34 edge on the
boards and turned the ball over just ten times. Bridgewater also
played very well defensively, limiting the Lancers to 38% shooting
(22-for-58) including just 6 of 21 from behind the arc.
Portions of Release Courtesy of Bridgewater State Sports Information