Men's Basketball Falls to MIT, 74-61

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team dropped a 74-61 decision to MIT on Thursday evening at the Tinsley Center.

MIT, ranked 26th in the latest D3hoops.com Poll, improves to 8-2 on the season. The Engineers entered the season having made four straight trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament including a Final Four appearance last March. Bridgewater falls to 3-5 as the Bears suffered their third straight setback.

Sophomore forward Matt Redfield (Los Altos, Calif.) paced the Engineers with 18 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks, while senior guard James Burke (Scotch Plains, N.J.) came off the bench to score 15 points on 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range.  Senior guard Mitchell Kates (Colts Neck, N.J.) added 11 points and four assists.

MIT shot a blistering 63.6% (28-for-44) for the game and held a decisive 30-13 rebounding advantage. The Engineers' limited Bridgewater to 0 second chance points while scoring 11 points off their seven offensive board. The MIT bench also outscored the BSU reserves by a margin of 31-3.

Bridgewater was led by sophomore forward Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.) who notched 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go along with five rebounds, four blocks and five steals. Sophomore forward Kyle Gibson (Franklin, Mass.) and junior guard Brendan Monteiro (Brockton, Mass.) added 13 points apiece for the hosts.

The Bears, who shot 47.1% (24-for-51) from the floor, forced 25 turnovers in the game and scored 33 of their 61 points off those miscues.

MIT held a ten-point (37-27) advantage at the intermission and led 42-32 with just under 16 minutes remaining in the second half.  Bridgewater then scored seven straight points in less than a minute highlighted by a Monteiro layup and three-pointer to cut the deficit to three (42-39) with 15 minutes left to play.  After forcing a turnover, the Bears had a chance to cut the deficit to one but were unable to convert.  The Engineers responded with a 7-0 run over their own to retake control of the game.   Bridgewater was able to pull to within five points later in the half, but would get no closer.

Both teams are off until the end of the month.  Bridgewater travels to Montclair State University for the MSU Holiday Tournament on December 28th and 29th.  MIT travels to La Verne University on December 31st.