BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Junior forward Nicholas Motta (Fairhaven, MA) tallied 24 points, nine rebounds and three steals to lead the Bridgewater State College men's basketball team to a 75-69 Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) victory over Westfield State this afternoon in Bridgewater.
The Bears (13-5) have now won ten straight games as they remain unbeaten in MASCAC play with a perfect 7-0 mark. Westfield falls to 8-12 overall and 1-6 in the conference.
Motta knocked down 10 of 17 field goal attempts and was 2 of 3 from three-point range. Four of his game-high nine boards came off the offensive glass.
Junior forward Judah Jackson (Everett, MA) added 18 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Jackson increased his career point total to 945. Senior center Chris Dijak (Lunenburg, MA) chipped in with 12 points, seven boards (five offensive), two assists and two steals.
Sophomore guard Nate Pollard (Holyoke, MA) paced the visiting Owls with 21 points, while freshman center Matt Devine (Pembroke, MA) added ten points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.
Bridgewater led 40-33 at the intermission with Motta scoring 13 of his game-high 24 points in the opening stanza. The Bears would built a double-digit advantage (51-40) on a pair of Jackson free throws with 14:07 on the scoreboard.
Westfield used a 9-3 run get to within five points before the Bears attempted to pull away again. A Jackson three-point play gave Bridgewater a ten-point advantage with 6:42 remaining, Westfield was then whistled for their second technical foul of the game and junior guard Corey Connor (Providence, RI) knocked down 1 of 2 free throws to put the Bears back up by 11 (67-56).
The Owls refused to go down quietly as they responded with a 11-3 run capped off by a Charlie Rucker(Lynn, MA) jumper to pull to within three points (70-67) with 2:14 remaining. What followed was perhaps the biggest possession of the game as Bridgewater came up with back-to-back offensive rebounds followed by a Motta two-point jumper. The possession last a minute and 23 seconds and gave BSC a five-point advantage with just 51 seconds left to play. After a missed Westfield jumper, Jackson would connect on 3 of 4 free throw attempts in the last 17 seconds to secure the win.
Bridgewater shot 42% (25-for-60) from the floor and connected on 23 of 34 free throw attempts (68%). The Bears were whistled for just 11 fouls, as opposed to 25 for Westfield. The Owls were 10 for 11 (91%) from the charity stripe and shot 49% from the field (27-for-55).