BRIDGEWATER, Mass. - In MASCAC men's basketball action, junior forward Matt Badjo (Worcester, MA) notched a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds as visiting Westfield State rolled to a 59-48 win over Bridgewater State College at the Tinsley Center on Tuesday evening.
The Owls improve to 14-6 with the win and 4-3 in the MASCAC while the Bears, losers of four out of their last five games, fall to 9-10 on the season and 3-4 in league play.
For Westfield State, junior guard Dave Jaehnig (Quincy, MA) registered 16 points and 9 rebounds while senior guard Ryan Mauer (Pittsfield, MA) scored a game-high 18 points on 6-for-13 shooting and 5-for-6 from the free throw line. Badjo would score 13 of his 17 points in the second half while Mauer would add 10 points and Jaehnig would chip in with eight.
Senior Tom Cuddihy (Scituate, MA) led BSC with a team-high 16 points while sophomore center Jim Torney (Braintree, MA) added 10 points and 9 rebounds. Junior forward Roland Millien (Stoughton, MA) finished the game with 9 points and 6 rebounds.
The Owls jumped out to a 16-4 lead with just under 11 minutes to play in the first half and led 22-8 with 6:46 remaining. Bridgewater State closed the gap with a 9-0 run over the next 2 ½ minutes to pull to within five points (22-17). The Bears, however, would not score over the next four minutes and trailed by nine points before a Cuddihy three-pointer in the waning seconds of the opening stanza made the score 26-20 as the teams headed to the locker room.
After the intermission, Westfield State brought the lead back up to 38-27 with 14:17 left in the game, but Bridgewater State would trim the margin and keep the score a six to eight point game. At the 7:07 mark, the Bears would go on an 8-2 run to bring the score to within two at 50-48, but the Owls would close the game out scoring the last nine points.
The Owls held a 43-29 rebounding margin while they shot an impressive 42% (24-for-57) from the field in the game. Bridgewater shot just 30% (16-for-53) from the floor, but did force 21 Westfield turnovers.
Both teams will continue MASCAC play with 3 o'clock games. Bridgewater State will travel to Framingham State while Westfield hosts Worcester State.