College Basketball: Bridgewater State Men Rally Past Westfield State

By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The final regular-season home game was turning out to be a struggle for the Bridgewater State University men’s basketball team.

After impressive back-to-back wins last week, the Bears fell behind Westfield State University by 13 points early in the second half on Wednesday night.

Their defense was unable to control the Owls, leaving BSU in an uphill climb for most of the game.

Just when it looked like the Bears were going to finish the Tinsley Center portion of the schedule on a down note, though, they rallied down the stretch to win for the sixth time in the past eight games.

BSU overtook Westfield State, 77-75, to move into a third-place tie with Worcester State University in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.

With one game to go, the Bears are assured of hosting a quarterfinal-round tournament game next Tuesday as either the third or fourth seed.

Westfield State held the lead for more than 24 consecutive minutes before BSU tied the game at 73 on two foul shots by Rocky DeAndrade with 2:22 remaining.

DeAndrade then put the Bears in front, 75-73, with a driving layup with 1:37 remaining and Fawaz Mass of Taunton sealed it with two foul shots with 16 seconds left.

“To their credit, they’ve got a little bit of an edge,’’ said BSU coach Joe Farroba of his team, which is now 11-12 and 7-4 in the MASCAC. “You’re going to have to beat us. We keep fighting back.’’

Mass led the Bears with 23 points and nine rebounds while DeAndrade added 18 points and four steals.

Michael Soares scored 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting and Joseph Carty was also in double figures with 11 points and eight rebounds.

BSU’s defense was porous in the first half when the Bears trailed, 46-36, allowing the Owls to shoot 58 percent.

Westfield State (10-14, 4-7) scored first in the second half for a 49-36 advantage, but Farroba turned to a trapping press that paid some dividends.

That slowed down the Owls, who were led by Shane Pasquantonio with 24 points and 14 rebounds.

“I was just disappointed with the first half because we had been playing so well,’’ said Farroba. “Defense is all about effort and attitude.

“We made a little bit of an adjustment, a little mini-press. I think it broke the rhythm of the game a little and we got some quick points out of it.’’

BSU used a 17-5 run to get within 54-53, but Westfield State built its lead back to seven before the late-game surge by the Bears.

DeAndrade and Mass combined for 10 of BSU’s final 13 points with Greg Romanko hitting a key 3-pointer with 3:10 left that brought the Bears within 73-71.

“Fawaz was real tough all night,’’ said Farroba. “Rocky made some big plays. That was a great win for us.’’

BSU ends the regular season with a trip to North Adams on Saturday to face the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, which is tied for last place at 2-9.

A win by the Bears or a loss by Worcester State would give BSU the No. 3 seed.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries and now we’ve gotten healthy,’’ said Farroba. “If we can get Saturday’s game and be 8-4 and .500 (overall), for what we went through, it will speak volumes to the kids of how hard they stayed with it and persevered.’’