Men's Basketball Rallies for 101-98 MASCAC Win at Framingham

By Jim Fenton

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University rallied from a seven-point deficit with less than eight minutes to go for a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference road win Saturday afternoon.

The Bears were behind Framingham State University, 77-68, with 7:46 to go and outscored the Rams, 33-21, the rest of the way for a 101-98 victory.

BSU held a nine-point lead in the final minute, but the Rams closed within three points and missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

BSU improved to 4-2 in the MASCAC and is 6-11 overall while Framingham State falls to 3-3 in the conference and 10-7 overall.

Junior Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.) led the Bears with 33 points, making 11 of 19 shots with three 3-pointers, to go with six rebounds.

Junior Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.) added 21 points, hitting two 3-pointers, and had eight rebounds and five assists.

Junior Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) scored 15 points, making three 3-pointers, and had three assists.

Senior Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.) scored 14 points and dished out three assists while senior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) chipped in with 10 points, seven assists and four rebounds to go along with a pair of steals.

BSU, which scored 58 second-half points and reached 100 points for the second time this season, made 48 percent of its shots.

The Bears connected on an impressive 22 of 24 (91.7%) free throw attempts while the Rams went 30-for-37 ( 81.1%) at the charity stripe.

There were 51 fouls called in the game. Two players fouled out and seven finished with four fouls.

Framingham State, which shot 59 percent, was led by junior Fallou Koite (Glendale, Md.) with 33 points on 8-for-11 shooting with four 3-pointers and five rebounds.

Junior Lorenzo Washington (Middletown, N.Y.) added 26 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Junior Dyree Rogers (New City, N.Y.) scored 14 points while junior Joshua Saint Jean (Lynn, Mass.) had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

After leading at the half, 49-43, Framingham State moved ahead, 77-68, with 7:46 to play on a pair of Koite free throws.

But the Bears scored nine points in a row to tie the game with 5:55 remaining.

Kikuba hit two foul shots, Jennings made a 3-pointer, Taylor made a jumper and Campbell hit a layup.

The Bears went in front, 78-78, with 4:56 to play on two Campbell foul shots.

Framingham State retook the lead at 85-82 on a three by junior Isiah Alexander (Upper Marlboro, Md.) with 3:22 to go.

BSU went on a 13-1 run for a 95-86 lead, getting five points in a row from Taylor, a 3-pointer by Campbell, a layup by Jennings, a foul shot by Kikuba and two foul shots by Sweeney that came with 49 seconds to go.

After going up, 97-88, the Bears had the lead trimmed to 97-94 after six straight Rams' free throws.

Two Campbell foul shots put BSU up, 99-94, with 21 seconds left and two Taylor free throws made it 101-96.

An and-one layup by Washington closed the margin to 101-98 with 6.6 seconds showing on the scoreboard. Washington missed the ensuing free throw and the Rams corralled the offensive rebound, but Alexander's potential game-tying three-pointer was off the mark, allowing BSU to survive.

The Bears were down, 6-0, early, missing their first nine shots, but they recovered to take an 11-10 lead on a Campbell layup with 13:16 to go in the first half.

BSU moved in front, 25-16 on a Sweeney 3-pointer and led, 31-23, on another Sweeney 3-pointer.

But the Rams went on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 33 and outscored BSU, 16-10, the rest of the half.

The Bears will host Worcester State Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. to close out the first half of the MASCAC schedule.

Framingham State travels to Anna Maria on Wednesday at 7 p.m.