NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The Bridgewater State men's basketball team made Head Coach Joe Farroba's 500th career game a winning one as the Bears posted a hard-fought 79-73 MASCAC win over MCLA on Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale for both teams
With the win, Bridgewater improves to 16-9 on the season and 7-5 in conference play, while MCLA falls to 16-8 overall and 7-5 in the MASCAC. Farroba is now 269-231 (.538) in his 19 seasons at the helm of the Bears' men's basketball program.
Despite the loss, the Trailblazers have earned the number two seed in next week's MASCAC Tournament by securing the tiebreaker over Bridgewater and Westfield. MCLA will have a bye into the semifinal round on Thursday evening (7:00). The Bears are the number three seed and will open tournament play on Tuesday evening (7:00) at home against sixth-seeded Worcester State.
The Bears raced out to a 23 point lead at 43-20 with 6:28 until the break. MCLA, playing without leading scorer and rebounder Jon Greenberg, responded with an up-tempo offense and created some turnovers. They outscored Bridgewater, 20-5, the remainder of the half to trim the deficit to 48-40 at intermission.
The Trailblazers continued the pressure right out of the locker room as they scored the first eight points of the second half to knot the score at 48 apiece. Ramon Viches collected six of the eight points in the run.
Bridgewater responded with a three pointer from senior guard Corey Connor on the next possession to regain the lead. Over the next ten minutes of action, the Bears would push out to a two possession lead on numerous occasions, each time with a Trailblazer run to tie the score. Following a conventional three-point play by Jamal Brown with 8:11 to play, MCLA led for the first time of the night at 65-64.
A pair of free throws by Bridgewater State senior forward Judah Jackson was answer by two from Viches as the Trailblazers maintained the one-point lead with 6:57 remaining. BSU sophomore guard Shawn Yard then gave the visitors the lead for good when his steal and layup pushed the Bears in front, 68-67, as the clocked ticked under five minutes.
MCLA would stay within reach over the next four and half minutes and trailed by two, 75-73, after Tyrell Mosley knocked down two free throws with 35 seconds remaining. The Trailblazer, however, would not score again. On the Bears ensuing possession, Yard knocked down a free throw but missed the second. Senior center Samuel Johnson grabbed the offensive board and the Trailblazers were forced to foul again. Connor calmly sank his two shots from the charity stripe to push the lead to 78-73. MCLA turned the ball over with ten seconds left to play and Jackson connected on one of two from the line to round out the scoring.
The Bears were led by Jackson's 16 points, while Yard finished with 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Junior guard Corey Ryser came off the bench to score 11 points to go along with five boards and a pair of assists. Johnson added eight points, eight rebounds and three steals.
MCLA's inspired effort without Greenberg was led by Mosley's 16 points. Brendan Kordana chipped in with 14, while Viches ended the night with 13. Brown added 10 rebounds for the Trailblazers.