Men's Basketball falls to Wesleyan, 98-65

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team fell to 3-6 with a 98-65 loss to Wesleyan University on Saturday afternoon.

The Bears were making their first visit to Wesleyan since November 19, 2005 and now trail the series with the Cardinals, 4-2.

BSU held a 7-3 lead 2:13 into the game, but Wesleyan responded with an 18-2 run to take control of the non-conference game at Silloway Gymnasium.

Sophomore guard Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) led the Bears with 12 points, five assists and three steals while junior Tyler Uyemura (Kersey, Co.) also scored 12 points to go with three assists.

The Cardinals received 28 points from junior Shane Regan (Larchmont, N.Y., who made 9 of 11 shots and was 5-for-6 on 3-pointers while adding seven assists.

Also in double figures for Wesleyan were Jared Langs (Fairview, Texas) with 16 points and five rebounds and Sam Pohlman (New York, N.Y.) with 10 points and four assists.

The Cardinals (7-2) held a 43-12 edge in fast-break points and outscored BSU, 52-22, in the paint. Wesleyan made 50 percent of its shots while the Bears hit only 37 percent (26-for-70).

BSU was outrebounded, 49-35, with graduate student Emerson Halbleib (Carmel, Ind.) getting a team-high five.

The Bears took the 7-3 lead on layups by Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.) and Kikuba and a 3-points by Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.) that came with 17:47 to go in the opening half.

But a 3-pointer by Fritz Hauser (Waterford, Vt.) with 16:52 left in the half ignited the 18-2 run and the Cardinals were never in trouble after that.

The Bears managed just a jumper by Halbleib with 15:35 left in the half during that spree, which lasted 4:28. Wesleyan held a 21-9 advantage after the run, getting five points from Hauser.

Midway through the half, the Cardinals' lead was 32-13 after a Regan 3-pointer and the margin was 38-13 when Langs hit a jumper. Wesleyan went into the locker room with a 47-27 advantage after leading by as many as 26 points in the first 20 minutes.

Bridgewater State managed to make only 34 percent of its shots in the half, and Regan scored 17 of his points.

A 3-pointer by senior Justin Parsons (Portsmouth, R.I.) cut the Cardinals' lead to 49-30 in the opening minute of the second half. But that is as close as the Bears would get.

Wesleyan went on a 10-2 run in just over two minutes to build a 59-32 lead.

When Jackson Cormier (Houston, Texas), who grabbed 11 rebounds, hit a layup with 12:15 left, the lead went to 72-41.

The Bears' largest deficit was 95-56 with 3:21 to go as the Cardinals made 55 percent of their second-half shots.

BSU has now given up at least 90 points in four games this season.

The Bears and Cardinals played for a second straight year after not meeting since 2014.

The Bears will be at the Tinsley Center for a 6 p.m. game Tuesday against Emerson College prior to the semester break.

Wesleyan is off until December 29 when it faces St. Joseph's of Maine in the Eastern Connecticut Holiday Invitational in Willimantic, Conn.