After Falling in Their NCAA Opener Last Year, Bears Hope Third Time a Charm
By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The memories of the 2009 NCAA Div. 3 tournament are pleasant ones for the Bridgewater State University men’s basketball team.
The Bears made school history two years ago by winning a pair of tourney games and advancing to the Sweet 16 before bowing out.
The memories of the 2010 appearance in the national tournament, however, are not quite so pleasant.
BSU was awarded an opening-round home game against the University of Maine-Farmington and had a large crowd on hand at the Tinsley Center one year ago tonight.
The Bears were unable to take advantage of the situation and were stunned, 64-63, for an abrupt end to their season.
Back in the NCAAs for an unprecedented third straight year, BSU is using that quick ouster last year as a motivational tool.
The Bears (19-9) play an opening-round game tonight at 7:30 against host Worcester Polytechnic Institute at the Harrington Auditorium.
“We’ve been waiting since last year,’’ said BSU leading scorer Nicholas Motta. “It’s been a long time waiting. We might have overlooked that game or maybe not showed up as we should have. It was a lesson well learned. I’m just glad it wasn’t my senior year.’’
Said forward Judah Jackson, a four-year starter: “We felt kind of robbed last year. We knew we came into the game kind of overconfident.
“Now we have a chance to do it again and we don’t want it to stop now. We’ve got our foot back in the door.’’
BSU enters the NCAAs with a four-game winning streak and has eight wins in the last nine games after beating Salem State for the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament crown.
WPI, which won the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference regular-season title, was upset by MIT in the tournament championship game last weekend. BSU owns a victory over MIT this season.
The Engineers (22-5) have dropped two of their last four games following a 13-game winning streak that stretched from Dec. 30-Feb. 12.
They are led by senior guard Jeffrey Robinson (15.8 points) and junior center Matt Carr (12.2 points, 6.9 rebounds) and are keyed by a tenacious defense that allows only 58.3 points per game. The Bears lead the MASCAC, averaging 82.4 points.
BSU and WPI met in the opening round of the 2006 NCAA tournament with the Bears falling, 79-62, in Worcester. Their last regular-season meeting was on Nov. 21, 2006 when the Engineers won in Bridgewater, 75-61.
“I know them very well,’’ said BSU coach Joe Farroba. “They play very up-in-your-face basketball. They’re tough. We’ll have to be poised. We’re playing in their gym. We’re playing them after they lost the championship game, so they’re looking to redeem themselves.
“They’ll be very tough. They have a very solid team, a great tradition up there. Chris Bartley is as good a coach as there is in the country at the Div. 3 level.’’