BRIDGEWATER, Mass. - The Salem State College men's basketball team withstood a furious rally as the Vikings knocked off host Bridgewater State College, 77-69, in a Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) contest this evening at the Tinsley Center in Bridgewater.
The Vikings put an end to BSC's 11-game winning streak as they improve to 19-5 on the season and 9-2 in the MASCAC. With a win on Saturday at home against Worcester State, Salem would wrap up the conference regular season title. Bridgewater drops to 17-6 overall and 9-2 in conference play. The Bears need a win on the road at MCLA on Saturday plus a Salem loss to take the MASCAC title.
Senior forward Dylan Holmes (Groton, MA) led the way for Salem as he poured in a game-high 28 points on 14 of 23 shooting. He also pulled down five boards and recorded two steals.
Salem dominated the first 33 minutes of play and appeared to be headed to a convincing victory. After taking a 42-31 lead into the intermission, the Vikings stormed out of the halftime break and held the Bears to just one point over the first six minutes of the second half. Salem outscored BSC, 15-1, over that six minutes stretch to increase their lead to what seemed an insurmountable 25 points (57-32).
With 8 ½ minutes left play, Salem still maintained an 18-point lead (66-48). That's when sophomore guard Corey Connor (Providence, RI) drilled three straight three-pointers to spark a 15-2 Bridgewater run to cut the deficit to five points (68-63) with three minutes to go. A pair of baskets by Holmes and two free throws apiece by senior forward Roland Millien (Stoughton, MA) and senior forward Stace Garrick (West Warwick, RI) kept the margin at five points entering the final minute of play. BSC however was not able to get any closer as the Vikings connected on 5 of 6 free throws in the last 55 seconds.
Millien finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, while sophomore forward Nicholas Motta (Fairhaven, MA) paced the Bears with a double-double of 17 points and 11 boards.
Senior guard Stevie Celestin (Somerville, MA) finished with 15 points, five rebounds and a game -high nine assists. Senior guard Ricky Ogboin (Boston, MA) added ten points, four boards and three assists.
Prior to the game, the Bears honored Millien, Garrick and fellow senior Deryk Largesse (Sutton, MA) who were playing in their final regular season home game.