North Adams, Mass. -- Bridgewater State College senior center Roland Millien (Stoughton, MA) scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Bears to a 78-74 MASCAC men's basketball win over MCLA this afternoon in North Adams.
With the win, the Bears (18-6, 10-2 MASCAC) earn a share of the conference regular season crown and will have a first round bye in next week's MASCAC Tournament. BSC is seeded second in the tournament and will take on the Westfield State/Fitchburg State quarterfinal winner on Thursday night at 7 PM. MCLA (1-24, 0-12) has completed play for the 2008-2009 season.
Senior Mike Callahan (Carmel, NY) scored a career-high 22 points in his final game in a Trailblazer uniform, while Jon Greenberg (Antwerp, Belgium) earned his 13th double-double pulling down a game-high 15 rebounds and scoring a game-high 24 points.
In the first half the Trailblazers took a 35-32 lead into the half behind 14 points by Mike Perreault (Whitinsville, MA). The Trailblazers jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the game and built an advantage as high at 10 points. The Bears slowly chipped away at the deficit, ultimately tying the game at 21-21 with 7:45 remaining in the half. Millien helped Bridgewater's fight back scoring 11 points in the half. Callahan's free throw gave the Trailblazers their lead back with just under 7 minutes to play. They continued that momentum taking a three-point lead into the intermission.
In the second half, the Trailblazers held off Bridgewater until the 16-minute mark when senior guard Deryk Largesse (Sutton, MA) scored his only basket and free throw of the game to give the Bears their first lead.
Greenberg answered back for the Trailblazers and the two teams would continue to battle for the lead for the rest of the game. Greenberg and Callahan combine for 29 of the Trailblazers 39 points in the half.
With two minutes left MCLA would close to within a point but were unable to regain the lead. Down the stretch Bridgewater would go 11-for-11 from the free throw line to seal the 78-74 win.
Senior forward Stace Garrick (West Warwick, RI) came off the bench to score 14 points on 4 of 5 shooting for the Bears, while also grabbing five rebounds. Junior guard Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA) added 14 points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals.