BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Senior forward Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.) posted a double-double with 22 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Bridgewater State University men's basketball team to an 81-77 overtime victory over visiting Westfield State University in a matchup of the top two teams in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) on Tuesday night at the Tinsley Center.
The Bears improve to 14-6 on the season and 7-1 in the MASCAC with their seventh straight win. The Owls fall to 13-6 overall and 7-1 in conference play as their eight-game winning streak came to an end. The two teams are now tied atop the MASCAC standings.
Lofton also added four steals and seven of his season-high 17 boards came off the offensive glass.
Senior forward Kyle Gibson (Franklin, Mass.) also recorded a double-double for the Bears as he finished with 14 points and ten rebounds. Senior guard Barrett Murphy (Marshfield, Mass.) added 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals, while junior guard Tyler DeMelo (East Freetown, Mass.) chipped in with ten points and four boards. Sophomore guard Fawaz Mass (Taunton, Mass.) came off the bench to score eight points on 4 of 4 shooting in just nine minutes.
Senior forward Grant Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) paced the visiting Owls with 22 points and six rebounds, while senior guard Andre King (Springfield, Mass.) notched 20 points, five boards and five assists. Senior guard Robby Jones (Chicopee, Mass.) added 12 points, five rebounds and five steals.
The Owls outworked the Bears in the first half forcing 12 turnovers and holding a 13-3 advantage in points off turnovers as well as a 22-14 edge in points in the paint. Westfield closed out the half with a 16-4 run to take a 38-30 lead into the intermission. King scored eight of his ten first-half points during the surge.
Lofton paced Bridgewater State with nine points and nine rebounds over the opening twenty minutes.
Westfield opened up nine-point lead, 45-36, three minutes into the second half on back-to-back layups by Cooper. Bridgewater dominated play over the next ten and a half minutes holding the Owls to just six points and outscoring the visitors 26-6 during that stretch. A Mass jumper with 6:35 remaining capped off the run and staked the Bears to a 62-51 lead.
Westfield, however, answered with a 13-0 run and held the Bears scoreless for more than five minutes. Cooper's offensive rebound and put-back capped off the spurt and gave the Owls a 64-62 lead with 1:05 left to play.
A Lofton lay-up with 49 seconds remaining broke the BSU scoreless string and knotted the score at 64-64. Lofton then forced a turnover, giving the Bears an opportunity to win the game in regulation. BSU had two chances in the last ten seconds but both shots were off the mark and the game went to overtime.
The teams exchanged baskets over the first 2 ½ minutes of overtime before senior guard Justin Clark (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) drained a three-pointer to put the Bears up, 73-70, with 2:22 remaining. Senior forward Dan Johnson (Belchertown, Mass.) answered with a three-pointer to tie the score and the Owls forced a turnover on the ensuing possession as the clock ticked down to a minute and half. Westfield could not take advantage of the BSU miscue as the Owls also turned the ball over.
Out of a timeout, Lofton drove to the hoop for an easy lay-up to break the deadlock with 59 seconds remaining. Murphy then came up with a key steal and sank the first free throw attempt at the other end of the floor to put the Bears up 76-73. Murphy missed the second attempt, but Lofton corralled the offensive rebound. Clark knocked down a pair of free throws to give BSU a 78-73 advantage with 16 seconds left.
Jones went the length of the floor for a lay-up with 10.8 seconds on the clock to cut the deficit to 78-75. The Owls fouled right away and Gibson converted 1 of 2 free throws to increase the BSU advantage to 79-75. A short-range jumper by King with just 2.5 seconds left made it a two-point game (79-77). Lofton was fouled immediately and made 1 of 2 at the line to make the score 80-77 in favor of the Bears. The Owls would turn the ball over on the ensuing inbounds pass and Murphy knocked down a free throw to cap off the scoring.
For the game, the Bears shot 44% (31-70) from the floor including 5-for-18 (28%) from three-point range, while the Owls connected on 48% (31-64) of their field goal attempts and went 2-for-11 (18%) from behind the arc. Both teams made 22 trips to the charity stripe with Bridgewater converting 14 and Westfield 13.
In an overtime period in which the two teams combined to score 30 points, the Bears shot 83% (5-6) from the floor and went 6-for-10 (60%) at the line while the Owls connected on 6 of 9 (67%) field goal attempts.
In upcoming action, the Bears travel to Framingham State University on Saturday afternoon for a three o'clock MASCAC tilt with the Rams, while the Owls entertain non-conference foe Western Connecticut State University on Thursday evening at 7:30.