Men's Basketball Holds Off Framingham State, 60-48

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Senior forward Greg Romanko (Mass.) and junior guard Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) tallied 16 points apiece to lead the Bridgewater State University men's basketball team to a 60-48 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) victory over visiting Framingham State University on Wednesday evening at the Tinsley Center.

The Bears improve to 12-8 on the season and 5-2 in the MASCAC as they avenged a 76-73 setback back on January 7th. The Rams fall to 6-15 overall and 3-5 in conference play.

Romanko connected on 6 of 9 field goal attempts including 3-for-6 from behind the arc. He also added three rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.

Junior forward Joseph Carty (Natick, Mass.) recorded his sixth double-double of the season for the Bears. Carty scored 11 points and pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds (four offensive).

BSU starters accounted for 58 of the team's 60 points as senior guard Fawaz Mass (Taunton, Mass.) added nine points and senior guard Patrick McGuinness (New City, N.Y.) contributed six.

Sophomore guard Manny Payton (Fitchburg, Mass.) paced the visitors with ten points, while junior forward Berthloyn Alexandre (Hyde Park, Mass.) grabbed a team-best ten rebounds. Senior forward Timothy Mangano (Winchester, Mass.) checked in with nine points for the Rams and sophomore forward Charles Valbrun (Hyde Park, Mass.) added nine in 21 minutes off the bench.

The first half featured five ties and nine lead changes. Trailing by one (22-21) with 5:47 remaining, the Bears closed out the stanza with a 11-2 run to take a 32-24 lead into the intermission.

DeAndrade and Romanko led all scorers with ten points apiece over the first 20 minutes.  The Bears shot 44% (10-23) from the floor and went 10-for-14 (71%) at the free throw line in the opening period, while the Rams connected on 39% (10-26) of their field goal attempts and made just two trips (2-2) to the charity stripe.

Bridgewater used a 9-0 run in the second half to open up a double-digit advantage (43-29) and never looked back. The Bears got up by as many as 17 points on two separate occasions in the final stanza including a 58-41 lead with just four minutes left to play.

For the game, Bridgewater shot 41% (20-49) from the floor while Framingham converted 40% (20-50) of its field goal attempts. The Bears, however, made 22 trips (16-22) to the free throw line compared to just eight (4-8) for the Rams.

The MASCAC schedule continues for both teams on Saturday afternoon at one. The Bears travel to Fitchburg State University while the Rams entertain Westfield State University.