Men's Basketball Holds Off MCLA for 78-75 Win

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team held off a late rally as the visiting Bears edged MCLA, 78-75, in the regular season finale for both programs on Saturday afternoon.

Bridgewater State improves to 12-12 overall with its fourth straight win and 8-4 in the MASCAC. The Bears, who have won six of their last seven games, will be the third seed in next week's conference tournament and will host #6 Framingham State University on Tuesday night at 7:30.

The host Trailblazers end their season at 6-19 overall and 2-10 in conference play.

BSU junior guard Fawaz Mass (Taunton, Mass.) paced the visitors with 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting to go along with nine rebounds. Junior forward Greg Romanko (Mansfield, Mass.) had a solid game as well drilling a trio of three-pointers en route to a 15 point performance. Sophomore forward Joseph Carty (Natick, Mass.) battled foul trouble but ended with 11 points and four rebounds in just 16 minutes of action.

For the Trailblazers, senior forward Khalil Paul (Troy, N.Y.) led all player with 25 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Senior guard Paul Maurice (Mattapan, Mass.) chipped in 16 points, while junior center Dakari Hannah-Wornum (Worcester, Mass.) posted a double-double with ten points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Junior forward Anderson Dalmace (Boston, Mass.) added ten points of 4 of 5 shooting in ten minutes off the bench.

The Bears, who never trailed in the game, led 38-30 at the intermission. Bridgewater extended its advantage to as many as ten points in the second half including a 66-56 lead with 6:01 remaining after a Ryan Carney (Easton, Mass.) layup. The Bears still led by seven, 74-67, with just 1:46 left to play following a Mass put-back. MCLA, however, would not go down quietly as the Trailblazers were fighting for a MASCAC Tournament berth.

Paul scored on a drive to the hoop to cut the lead to five. The defense then caused a turnover and Maurice connected on a pair of free throws with 1:08 left to make it a three-point game (74-71). After two missed BSU free throws, Patrick McGuinness (New City, N.Y.) outdueled four Trailblazers for the offensive rebound and Michael Soares (Milford, Mass.) converted 1 of 2 from the line to increase the Bears' advantage to 75-71 with 54 seconds left to play.

A Maurice lay-in for MCLA cut the deficit to two. Carty made 1 of 2 from the charity stripe at the other end of the floor to make it a 76-73 contest with 37 seconds showing on the scoreboard.

A pair of Maurice free throws pulled the Trailblazers to withing one, but Carty answered with two at the line to give the Bridgewater the 78-75 lead with just 18 seconds left.  MCLA played for a final shot to tie the game, but the Bears played tough defense. Paul was forced to attempt a pair of difficult three-point attempts to tie the game, the second of which was blocked by Mass as time expired preserving the win for the Bears.

Bridgewater shot a solid 46% (26-57) from the floor in the victory and protected the ball well committing just nine turnovers, including only one in the first half. The Bears went 21-for-30 (70%) from the charity stripe in the win as the game featured 48 total fouls. Four of BSU's nine missed free throws came in the final 68 seconds of the contest.

MCLA shot 39% (25-64) from the floor and went 20-for-32 (63%) at the line.