Bridgewater State Men's Basketball Wins Opener

Inexperienced Bears Fall Behind Early, but Rally at Home to Prevail

By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- There is a new look to the Bridgewater State University men's basketball team this season.

Gone are Nicholas Motta, Judah Jackson and Corey Connor, the top three scorers in each of the past two seasons when they helped the Bears extend their streak of NCAA Div. 3 tournaments appearances to three in a row.

Losing three players who combined to score more than half of the team's points last season has left BSU with gaping holes to fill.

The Bears, with just two returning starters, will be going through a learning process as the 2011-12 season develops, and that was evident in their opener on Tuesday night.

BSU struggled at times, falling behind by as many as 15 points in the opening nine minutes, put together some strong stretches, then held on in the final minute to get things going on a positive note.

The Bears survived to edge Anna Maria College, 67-64, at the Tinsley Center, getting 19 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots from senior center Samuel Johnson and 14 points from senior guard Corey Ryser.

"I'm stealing from the Boston College coach (Steve Donahue), who has a young team,'' said BSU coach Joe Farroba. "His comment was, 'When we struggle, how are we going to react to the struggle?' It's the same with us. That will tell us a lot about our team.

"It's a good win, obviously, but there were some execution things that we didn't do. The big thing is, we held our poise. But it was a good win to start. We were in our own gym. We had a great crowd.''

The Bears made it past the Amcats after Ryser hit a 3-pointer off a feed from Andrew Kelley with 1:21 to play, breaking a 62-62 deadlock, the seventh tie of the second half.

Anna Maria got back within 65-64 on a Javier Bristol layup with 20 seconds to go, and the Bears then turned the ball over four seconds later on a botched inbounds pass. However, Anthony Fortes (10 points, all from the free throw line) rebounded a missed shot by the Amcats, and then hit two foul shots with five seconds left.

"That's a good team we played,'' said Farroba. "Last year, they went to the ECACs and we anticipated a game just like this. I'm glad we won a game like this. Although we struggled, we found a way and stayed with it and persevered. There are still some things we have to tighten up, but it's a win.''

BSU stumbled in the opening minutes of the season, falling behind, 21-6, with 12:34 remaining in the first half as its defense was porous and the offense couldn't get going. But the Bears went on a 24-8 run to take a lead before trailing, 36-33, at halftime.

"I just think we didn't react to things,'' said Farroba. "What bothered me at halftime, and I kind of lit into them a little bit, was one of the things we didn't react to was the changing of defenses they were going to do. The little half-court trap messed with us and we had to make adjustments.''

Guard Shawn Yard of Brockton was a key to BSU's defense, getting three steals, and he had nine assists.

"That's what he's got to do,'' said Farroba of Yard's defense.

The Bears will travel to New York to play in the Hamilton Tip-Off Tournament on Friday and Saturday.