Men's Basketball Advances to Hampton Inn/Naismith Classic Championship Game

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team earned a 75-65 win over Wesleyan University on Friday night in the opening round of the Hampton Inn West Springfield/Naismith Classic in Blake Arena.

The Bears improve to 5-5 on the season with their fourth straight win while Wesleyan falls to 5-5 with the loss. Bridgewater State advances to the championship game to take on host Springfield College on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Wesleyan will play Lyndon State in the consolation game at 3:30.

Wesleyan opened the game with eight unanswered points on baskets by Joe Edmonds (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Rashid Epps (Albrightsville, Pa.) and Brian Bartner (Florham Park, N.J.), but Bridgewater State quickly answered back with a 10-0 run of its own.

Justin Clark (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) ended the Bears' drought with a basket and a foul to make it an 8-3 game with 16:54 to play in the half. Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.) made it a three point game then Clark drained a three-pointer with 16:02 left in the first half to tie it up at eight apiece. Bridgewater State took its first lead of the game on a basket by Brendan Monteiro (Brockton, Mass.) with 14:40 left in the half.

Bridgewater State led by as much as 10 points in the first half as Barrett Murphy (Marshfield, Mass.) knocked down a jumper with 6:07 left in the half to take a 27-17 lead.

Wesleyan came within three points late in the half on two free throws from Harry Rafferty (Dubuque, Ia.) with 2:59 on the clock making it a 29-26 game, but the Bears extended their lead to nine points before heading into the locker room as Monteiro scored on back-to-back possessions before time expired to take a 36-27 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Wesleyan made it a three-point game with 15 minutes left to play after BJ Davis (Hamden, Conn.) knocked down a three-pointer to make it 40-37.

Murphy drained a three for Bridgewater to bring the lead back up to five points with 12:50 left on the clock. Murphy knocked down another three with 11:14 left to play, giving the Bears a 49-40 lead.

Wesleyan made it interesting though, closing the gap to just three points as Jack Mackey (Warwick, N.Y.) sunk two free throws to make it a 55-52 game with 6:20 left in the game. That's as close as the Cardinals would come, as Bridgewater State led by as much as 11 points down the stretch with free throws by Murphy, Lofton and Garey Allen (Windsor, Conn.) in the game's final minute. Lofton iced the game with a dunk in the final eight seconds.

Bridgewater State was led by Murphy with a team-high 16 points. Lofton finished with 14 points, Clark had 13 points and seven rebounds and Allen added 10 points.

Wesleyan was led by Rafferty with a game-high 19 points. Edmonds added 15 points and Epps finished with a double-double, 13 rebounds and 12 points.