By John Botelho, The Enterprise (Brockton)
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men’s and women’s basketball squads both went into their MASCAC finals as underdogs.
They came out as top dogs, and with a couple of tickets to the NCAA Div. 3 tournament.
The Bridgewater State men traveled to Salem State, which had already knocked off the Bears twice this season, overcoming a 19-point deficit in Bridgewater in one of its wins.
This time, however, the third-seeded Bears would not allow the Vikings to pull off another comeback win, pulling out a convincing 91-73 upset of the top-seeded Salem State for their third straight MASCAC tourney title, their fifth overall.
In the MASCAC women’s tournament final at Westfield State on Saturday, the second-seeded Bears likewise faced a team it had already lost to twice this season in the top-seeded Owls, including once in overtime.
Bridgewater State, however, got the last laugh as senior guard Brittney Chappron scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Bears to a 47-42 title win in a defensive battle.
“Not only is it great for the programs but the university as well,” said BSU women’s coach Bridgett Casey. “It’s the first time Joe (Farroba, men’s coach) and I have been able to bring it home in the same day.”
It marks only the second time in school history that both programs earned NCAA bids in the same season, doing so for the first time since the 1982-83 season.
Senior guard Judah Jackson was named tournament MVP for the BSU men with 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds while teammate Nicholas Motta scored a game-high 22 points.
The Bears had three other players score in double figures as Corey Connor, Samuel Johnson and Anthony Fortes all chipped in.
Taunton’s Apollos Wade led Salem State with 19 points.
Bridgewater State led by as many as 22 points in the second half before the Vikings went on a 15-0 run to pull within seven points with 9:55 remaining, but the visitors hit 17 of 21 free throws down the stretch to earn the right to cut down the nets.
“What’s really great about it is attaining a goal we had at the beginning of the year,” said Farroba. “I said to the guys before the game, ‘This is where we wanted to be. We wanted to be playing for the conference championship.’”
Casey echoed Farroba’s sentiments about her own squad’s season-long ambitions to win their first conference crown since the 2007-08 campaign.
“At the beginning of the season, it was a goal, something that we kept our eye on,” said Casey. “We hit a few speed bumps, but we just knew we were playing real good basketball the last three weeks.”
Chappron led the way for the Bears as the tournament MVP hit four 3-point baskets to rally Bridgewater State (19-7) from a 38-32 deficit midway through the second half.
“Brittney has been playing for the past three weeks like she did today,” said coach Casey. “She was a senior on a mission.”
The game was tied at 40-all with 2:33 remaining when Megan Boutilette hit a basket and a foul shot to put the Bears ahead to stay.
With less than a minute left, Westfield was forced to foul and senior guard Corey Cuddihy made two free throws for a 45-42 lead with 17 seconds to go. After Westfield State’s Courtney DelRatez missed a 3-point attempt with four seconds remaining, Chappron was fouled and hit both free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining to seal the win.
Boutilette had seven points for the Bears.
NCAA tournament pairings for both teams will be announced on Monday.
“We’re in the one-and-done season now,” said Farroba.