BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Junior forward Nicholas Motta (Fairhaven, MA) posted a double-double with 28 points and ten rebounds to lift the Bridgewater State College men's basketball team to a 73-59 victory over Worcester State College in MASCAC Tournament semifinal action this evening at the Tinsley Center in Bridgewater.
The top seeded Bears (18-7) advance to the conference championship game as they will host number two seed Framingham State College on Saturday at 2 PM. Framingham defeated Salem State College in the other semifinal matchup, 78-70. Worcester State ends the season with an overall record of 13-14.
Motta, the MASCAC Player of the Year, connected on 11 of 19 field goal attempts and was 4-for-6 from three-point range. He also added an assists and three steals, and three of his ten rebounds came off the offensive glass.
Junior forward Judah Jackson (Everett, MA) added 19 points for the Bears to go along with two blocked shots. With his 19 points, Jackson moved past Derek Saves (1998-02) into 21st place on the Bears' all-time scoring list as he now has 1,077 points in his career.
Senior point guard Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA) chipped in with six assists, six rebounds, three steals and four points, while senior center Chris Dijak (Lunenburg, MA) pulled down ten boards and blocked two shots.
Senior forward Maurice Horton (Detroit, MI) and freshman guard Tim Henault (Lunenburg, MA) tallied ten points apiece for Worcester State. Junior forward Dave Douillette (Bridgewater, MA) added eight points, eight rebounds and three assists.
With BSC up 11-7 eight minutes into the contest, the Bears used an 8-0 surge - which included consecutive trey's during the run by Motta at the top of the arc - to open up a 19-7 lead at 11:08. Worcester State would get back into the game and whittle the deficit down to two points with a 14-2 spurt as the Lancers trailed, 23-21, with 6:25 left.
Bridgewater State held a four point cushion two minutes later (29-25) and employed tenacious defense to outscore the visitors by an 11-5 margin to close out the half with the 38-30 advantage.
BSC picked up right where they left off and utilized a 9-4 spurt to take a 47-36 advantage early on in the second stanza. Worcester State would make one final push with a 6-0 run to pull to within 47-41 with 11:57 remaining, but the Bears would soon bring the lead into double digits using a 10-0 burst to open up a 57-41 edge with 9:10 to go.
Bridgewater State led by double-figures the rest of the way and got up by as many as 20 points (71-51) with four minutes left (71-51). The Bears only outscored Worcester State, 35-29, in the second frame.
Bridgewater State shot 47% (28-for-60) from the floor and knocked down 9 of 19 three-points attempts. The Bears held a 38-34 edge on the boards and turned the ball over just ten times. Bridgewater also played very well defensively, limiting the Lancers to 38% shooting (22-for-58) including just 6 of 21 from behind the arc.
The Bears have won ten straight games at the Tinsley Center and are 11-1 at home this season.