Men's Basketball Edges MASCAC Foe Worcester State, 69-66

FITCHBURG, Mass. – Freshman guard Ryan Carney (Easton, Mass.) scored a game-high 16 points to lead the Bridgewater State University men's basketball team to a 69-66 comeback victory over Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) rival Worcester State University on Wednesday night.

The game was played at Fitchburg State's Parkinson Gymnasium.

Carney connected on 7 of 13 field goal attempts including a pair of three-pointers. Junior guard Fawaz Mass (Taunton, Mass.) added 13 points for the Bears who trailed by as many as 19 points (37-18) in the first half.

Sophomore guard Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) chipped in ten points, six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals for Bridgewater State, while sophomore center Mike Wiederkehr (Bremgarten, Switzerland) notched in a career-high ten points on 5 of 6 shooting in 16 minutes off the bench.

Junior guard Bilal Shakir (Worcester, Mass.) paced Worcester State with 14 points, while junior center Paul Brooks (Arlington, Mass.) posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Junior forward Ryan DiBernardo (Springfield, Mass.) added 13 points for the Lancers.

Trailing 42-28 at the intermission, the Bears opened the second half with a 13-1 run to cut the deficit to two (43-41). Mass tallied six points during the run, while junior forward Michael Soares (Milford, Mass.) scored four and DeAndrade capped it off with a three-pointer at the 15:18 mark.

The next six plus minutes featured three ties and three lead changes.  A jumper by Wiederkehr with 10:43 remaining gave the Bears a 54-53 lead and jumpstarted a 12-2 BSU run. Back-to-back three-pointers by Carney and DeAndrade capped off the run and gave the Bears a 64-55 advantage with 6:18 left to play.

A quick 6-0 spurt by the Lancers highlighted by a thundering dunk by Brooks pulled the hosts to within three (64-61) with 4:24 remaining. BSU junior forward Greg Romanko (Mansfield, Mass.) answered with a three-pointer, but Worcester responded with a Brooks' layup followed by a DiBernardo three-pointer to make it a one-point game (67-66) as the clock ticked down towards two minutes.

Mass knocked down a key jumper with 1:34 showing to extend the BSU advantage to 69-66. That would be the final points scored in the game.

The Lancers had multiple opportunities to tie the game, but failed to take advantage of the Bears missing two shots as well as the front end of a one-on-one in the final 90 seconds.

Next up, the Lancers will host Framingham State on Saturday (Jan. 23) on the campus of WPI. The Bears will also resume play on Saturday when they will travel to Westfield State for a MASCAC matchup.