SALEM, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State College men's basketball team captured the MASCAC Tournament title on Saturday afternoon as the Bears knocked off host Salem State College, 77-66, in the championship game.
With the win, Bridgewater (20-6) earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament which will get underway next Thursday. The NCAA tournament pairings are expected to be announced on Monday morning.
This marks the second time in four years and third time overall that Bridgewater has captured the MASCAC championship. BSC's first captured the conference tournament title during the 1998-99 season.
The Bears will also be making the program's fourth trip to the NCAAs. Bridgewater first advanced in 1983 followed by automatic bids in 1999 and 2006. BSC also reached the 20-win mark for only the third time in school history, joining the ‘82-‘83 squad and the ‘74-‘75 team that each went 21-6.
"We got the trifecta,'' said BSC Head Coach Joe Farroba. "The best thing about this is we won the (regular-season) conference championship, the tournament championship and we're going to the NCAAs.
"That's the first time we've done that, gotten all three. The kids worked really hard. These are kids with a good work ethic, and they don't want to lose."
Bridgewater had four players in double figures, led by senior forward Stace Garrick (West Warwick, RI), who came off the bench to score 17 points to go along with seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Nicholas Motta (Fairhaven, MA) added 16 points and six boards, while senior center Roland Millien (Stoughton, MA) finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Sophomore guard Judah Jackson (Everett, MA) chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds.
The Bears never trailed in a game which featured just one tie (19-19). After Salem evened the score at 19 apiece, BSC responded with a 15-4 run over a four-minute stretch to take a 34-23 lead with 4:22 to play in the first half.
Bridgewater led 39-31 at the intermission, but Salem went on an 8-2 run to open the second half to pull to within two points at 41-39.
The Bears built the lead back up to double figures (57-45) with 9:56 left in the game, but the Vikings would not go away quietly. A pair of three-pointers by freshman guard Dan Clark (Deerfield, MA) and senior guard Stevie Celestin (Somerville, MA) cut the Salem deficit to 57-51, and a Celestin jumper made it 57-53 with 8:28 left.
BSC's advantage was still at four points (65-61) with 3:54 left after Clark knocked home another three-pointer. Motta answered with a jumper to push the lead to six points (67-61). The Bears then turned back-to-back Salem turnovers into three points on a Garrick layup and an Anthony Goss (Boston, MA) free throw. After a pair of Salem missed field goals, Motta converted a breakaway layup to make it an 11-point advantage (72-61) with 1:26 to go. The Bears would ultimately knock down five free throws in the final minute to seal the victory.
Celestin finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals for the Vikings, while Clark chipped in with 14 points, three assists and three steals.
Junior guard Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA) added eight rebounds, four assists and five steals for the Bears.