Bridgewater State 74, Worcester State 70
Bridgewater, MA --- Senior guard Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA)
knocked down the game-winning layup with 16 seconds left to play as
the Bridgewater State College men's basketball team locked up their
second straight Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference
(MASCAC) regular season title with a 74-70 come-from-behind victory
over Worcester State this evening in Bridgewater.
Bridgewater State remains unbeaten in MASCAC play as the Bears
improve to 10-0 in the conference and 16-6 overall. The win marked
the 250th coaching victory for BSC skipper Joe Farroba who is in
18th season as the Bears' head coach.
Junior guard Judah Jackson (Everett, MA) tallied 15 points,
including the 1,000th of his career. The milestone point came with
15:05 remaining in the game as he knocked down a pair of free
throws. Jackson also added eight rebounds, two assists and four
steals and finished 7-for-8 from the free throw line.
McLaughlin posted team-high totals of 16 points, four assists and
five steals. He connected on 7 of 10 field goal attempts. The Bears
also received 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals
from junior forward Nicholas Motta (Fairhaven, MA), and 11 points
and two assists from junior guard Corey Connor (Providence,
RI).
Bridgewater overcame an outstanding individual performance from
Worcester State senior forward Maurice Horton
(Detroit, MI) who posted a double-double with game-high totals of
27 points and ten rebounds. Horton connected on 10 of 15 field goal
attempts, including 4-for-6 from three-point range, and also dished
out five assists.
Freshman guard Tim Henault (Lunenburg, MA) added
14 points for the Lancers as he knocked down 4 of 9 three-point
attempts.
Bridgewater State opened the game with an 11-6 lead five minutes in
before the Lancers went on a 13-0 run - including a pair of trey's
and nine points by Horton - to jump ahead 19-11 at 10:54. The Bears
converted consecutive turnovers into four points to trail by four
(19-15), but WSC would go on an 8-2 surge to lead 27-17 with 6:06
left.
With Worcester State up 36-25 at 2:17, BSC outscored the Lancers
8-2 to close out the half down by just five at 38-33.
The first three minutes of the second stanza would see both teams
go back and forth as the Lancers led 46-38 at 17:12 before
Bridgewater State went on a 7-0 spurt to trail by one point at
15:15 (46-45). Worcester State went back up by three on a Henault
lay-up, but Jackson knocked back two free throws to pull BSC back
to within one.
The Bears then converted a miscue for the 49-48 lead with 14:41
remaining to set off a string of three ties and three lead changes
over the next seven minutes of play. Worcester State finally
emerged with the 62-59 edge as Henault gave the visitors the lead
at 7:02.
The Lancers would go up by eight with five minutes left (67-59),
but would commit four consecutive fouls to put Bridgewater State
back in the game as they went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe to
trail by two at 4:03 (67-65). Motta would knot the game up 67-67
following another WSC miscue.
Sophomore Raynaldi Voyard (Leominster, MA) drained
three free throws to put the Lancers up 70-67, but that was the
last time they would lead. A wild sequence would follow over the
next 60 seconds as Worcester State would miss three shots from the
field and BSC would miss two of their own before a foul at 1:51
would send junior Ryan Testagrossa (Athol, MA) to
the line.
Testragrossa had a chance to make it a four possession game, but he
would miss the front end of a one-and-one. The Bears pounced at the
opportunity and got to within one on a second chance point by Motta
at 1:29 (70-69).
Worcester State would commit two straight turnovers before
Mclaughlin gave Bridgewater State the 72-70 lead on a traditional
three-point play. Junior Dave Douillette
(Bridgewater, MA) tried to jack a three-pointer for the go ahead
points, but he was blocked by Motta. Jackson canned a pair of free
throws in the waning seconds to help secure the victory for the
Bears.
The Lancers were guilty of 26 turnovers for the contest as
Bridgewater held a 38-6 edge in points off turnovers. Of the 26
miscues, 17 were as a result of BSC steals.
Both teams will play Salem State in the next week as Bridgewater State gets the first crack on Tuesday at 8 PM. Worcester State will close out their regular season on "Senior Day" against the Vikings at 6 PM next Saturday.