By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)

SALEM, Mass. -- The third time turned out to be the charm for the Bridgewater State University men’s basketball team.

After dropping two regular-season games to Salem State University, the Bears won the third meeting with the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament title on the line.

Second-seeded BSU earned a trip to the NCAA Division 3 tournament on Saturday afternoon by defeating top-seeded Salem State University, 83-73, at the Twohig Gymnasium.

The Bears (16-11) are headed back to the NCAAs for the first time since making three consecutive appearances from 2009-11.

Brendan Monteiro of Brockton and tourney MVP Michael Lofton (13 rebounds) led BSU with 24 points each while Kyle Gibson added 15 points and eight rebounds.

Monteiro, a Catholic Memorial High graduate who had 31 points in the tourney opener against Worcester State, scored 18 of his points in the second half.

Lofton went over the 1,000-point mark in his career during the win.

This marks the seventh time in program history the Bears have advanced to the NCAAs. BSU has won three of its last four MASCAC tourney titles at Salem State (17-9).

The Bears, who lost to the Vikings, 60-59, on Jan. 25 and 80-68 on Feb. 19, were picked to finish fourth in the MASCAC preseason poll but are sitting atop the conference.

“I’m just happy the players drank the Joe Farroba Kool-Aid,” joked BSU coach Joe Farroba. “We started out the season 1-5, but we came on.”

BSU, which has won six of its last seven games, put together a strong effort from start to finish to eliminate Salem State.

“You feel like a proud father today,” said Farroba. “The kids played well. It was wonderful.

“We could have folded early in the second half when they were coming at us, but we held them off.

“We grew up today. Early in the season, we might have lost a game like this. We showed a lot of grit.”

BSU trailed, 16-8, less than six minutes into the game before moving in front, 31-30, with 6:01 left in the half on a Gibson layup.

That was part of an 18-6 run that the Bears closed out the first half with to take a 45-36 lead at the break, Tyler DeMelo hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer after a Brian Grossman steal.

BSU led by as many as 11 early in the second half before the Vikings made a bid, getting within 57-55 with 7:57 remaining.

Monteiro answered with a pair of layups for a six-point lead, but Salem State got within 65-64 with 3:30 left on a three-point play by Nicholas Grassa.

Monteiro then hit a fast-break layup and added a 3-pointer with 2:06 remaining for a 70-64 lead, Lofton hit two foul shots and Gibson made one free throw for a nine-point bulge to put it away.

The NCAA tourney pairings will be announced on Monday.