NEW PALTZ, N.Y. -- The Bridgewater State College men's basketball team dropped a 78-71 decision to St. Joseph's College of Long Island in the championship game of the SUNY-New Paltz/Rino's Pizza Tip-Off Tournament.
Bridgewater falls to 2-1 with the loss as the Bears suffered their first defeat of the young season. St. Joseph's improves to 2-0.
Senior guard Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA) paced the Bears with 19 points, four rebounds and three steals. Junior guard Judah Jackson (Everett, MA) added 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals as he was named to the all-tournament team.
Junior forward Nicholas Motta (Fairhaven, MA) chipped in with 16 points, five assists and four rebounds.
The Bears shot 39% (27-for-70 from the floor and were just 5-for-23 from three-point range. Bridgewater's bench was also outscored, 31-11, by the Saint Joseph's reserves. The Golden Eagles connected on 30 of 57 (53%) field goal attempts.
Jermaine Russell led the way for St. Joseph's as he posted a double-double with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Russell was selected as the tournament MVP. Alvin Dennis came off the bench to score 14 points on 7 of 9 shooting while also grabbing five boards.
The game was a matchup of 2009 NCAA Division III Tournament participants.