NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth men's basketball team outscored visiting Bridgewater State, 20-11, during a period of six and a half minutes late in the second half and went on to defeat the Bears, 81-62, in a non-conference game at the Tripp Athletic Center Wednesday evening.
The Corsairs led, 53-49, after the Bears got a layup from senior guard Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA) with 9:37 remaining. Sophomore guard Paul Rose (Boston, MA), senior guard Tyler Turtoro (Shelton, CT), sophomore center Lance Greene (Dorchester, MA) hit layups and senior guard Jeff Macchi (Franklin, MA) added a pair of free throws to give UMD a 61-53 lead.
The Bears' sophomore guard Corey Ryser (Tewksbury, MA) connected from three-point range, but senior forward Matt Walker (Brockton, MA) matched it for the Corsairs. After junior forward Nick Motta (Fairhaven, MA) hit a layup to close the gap to 66-60, senior forward Brandon Shelton (Cambridge, MA) connected on a jumper, and Rose added a layup and a three-pointer to extend the lead to 73-60 with 3:04 remaining.
UMass Dartmouth started off quickly, getting three-pointers from Rose and sophomore forward Tom Henneberry (Lexington, MA) and a pair of treys from junior forward Brandon Stephens (Dorchester, MA) to build an early 20-6 lead. The Bears came back with a 14-8 run, with Motta hitting a pair of three-pointers and a layup, to make it 28-20 with 4:27 left in the first half. A three-point play and subsequent layup by BSC senior center Chris Dijak (Lunenburg, MA) made it 31-27 with1:07 left in the first half, but Greene and Rose hit layups to allow the Corsairs to stretch their advantage to eight points at the intermission.
Stephens led UMass Dartmouth with 20 points; Greene added 15 and Rose contributed 12. Motta had 17 for BSC, Dijak had 13, McLaughlin added 11 and junior forward Judah Jackson (Everett, MA) had 10. Henneberry and Jackson each had eight rebounds as the teams split the battle of the boards with 32 apiece. The Corsairs made 65.5 percent of their shots from the field in the second half and held the Bears to 37.5 percent.
The Corsairs improved to 4-1 with the victory, while the Bears dropped to 3-2 with the defeat. UMass Dartmouth will return to action when they visit Plymouth State in their Little East Conference opener Saturday afternoon. Bridgewater will host Wheaton on Saturday at 1 PM.