Bears’ Stumble in Second Half Costly in Loss at Home
By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The prospects of opening the postseason at home have dimmed for the Bridgewater State University men’s basketball team.
The Bears fell into sixth place in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference on Tuesday night with an 84-73 loss to Salem State University at the Tinsley Center.
BSU must win its final two regular-season games on the road and get some help in order to play a quarterfinal-round game in the MASCAC tourney at home next week.
A victory over Salem State, which lost to the Bears last month, would have put BSU in a three-way tie for third place.
Instead, the Bears (10-12) are 4-6 in the conference, two games behind third-place Salem State, which is followed by Fitchburg State (5-5) and Worcester State (also 4-6, though it currently holds the tiebreaker with BSU. The third and fourth seeds will host quarterfinal-round games.
The Bears bolted out to a 20-6 lead over the Vikings (14-9) in the opening 7:20 and appeared poised to finish the regular-season home schedule with a key victory.
Instead, they faltered at various points the rest of the way, especially with 13 turnovers in the second half.
“Very disappointing,’’ said BSU coach Joe Farroba. “We got out early and played with a lot of energy. I thought they got up in our faces, turned up the defense and I thought we took some quick shots. We allowed them to get back in the game.
“We get into that mode where we play well in spurts, but we just didn’t sustain it.’’
The Bears were led by senior point guard Shawn Yard of Brockton, who had 19 points, five assists, four steals and four rebounds in what might have been his final home game.
Salem State pressured Yard in the backcourt, making it difficult for him to get his hands on the ball for most of the night.
“Yard had a solid game,’’ said Farroba, who got 13 points from Anthony Fortes and 12 points and 12 rebounds from Michael Lofton. “He handles the ball a lot. That’s been what people have been doing, get the ball out of his hands and make other people make decisions. That makes it a little tougher for us.’’
After racing to the early 14-point lead, BSU found itself ahead just 39-38 at the break, then struggled on offense in the second half. Yard put the Bears up, 55-53, with a jumper with 12:46 to go, but Salem State went on a 15-4 run over the next minutes to seize control at 68-59.
BSU got no closer than seven the rest of the way as the turnovers stifled any chance of getting back on top.
“The worst part about it is they’re just bad decisions,’’ said Farroba. “We’re trying to force something in a tight spot. They hurt us, especially in the second half. We were making a little bit of a run, and they hurt us.’’