By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Michael Lofton is putting together an impressive final season with the Bridgewater State University men’s basketball team.
The senior from Mansfield is leading the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference in scoring (17.6 points per game), is second in rebounds (8.6) and ranks fourth in field-goal percentage (54.4) and steals (1.6).
On Saturday afternoon, Lofton led the way as the Bears won their third straight game, holding off Worcester State University, 71-65, at the Tinsley Center.
He scored a season-high 30 points on 14-for-25 shooting to go with 11 rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Lofton also made key back-to-back plays late in the game after a 15-point second-half BSU lead was chopped down to two with less than two minutes remaining.
“To me, he’s one of the better ones that I’ve had here at Bridgewater with his athletic talent,’’ said coach Joe Farroba, whose team improved to 10-6 and 3-1 in the MASCAC. “Obviously, Lofton had a monster game today. That’s what he’s capable of doing. He stepped up.’’
Worcester State (3-13, 0-3) had trailed, 50-35, with 11:41 remaining before outscoring the Bears, 24-11, to close within a basket with 1:52 to go.
After a timeout, BSU ran a play in which Justin Clark set up Lofton for an alley-oop dunk and a 63-59 lead, and 12 seconds later, Lofton stole the ball and converted it into a layup for a six-point bulge.
“We came in and ran a set play for him and he finished it off with a big dunk, which was really nice, and then he made the big steal,’’ said Farroba. “All of a sudden, it just changed it.’’
Kyle Gibson (16 points, seven rebounds) then sealed the win by going 6-for-6 from the foul line in the last 31 seconds, finishing 10-for-10 on the day.
“Today was a great example of Mike,’’ said Farroba. “I told him to take 20 shots and I think he needs to do that. You look at his field-goal percentage. His shots are from the foul line in, so even his misses are good misses.
“He’s a player who usually fills up the stat sheet, and he is unselfish to a fault.’’
Lofton ranks 15th on the all-time scoring list at BSU with 1,269 points to go with 773 rebounds.
BSU held a 35-25 halftime lead and extended the lead in the second half before Worcester State, led by Paul Brooks (22 points, 14 rebounds) and Charles Gunter (18), made a comeback bid with 64 percent shooting after the break.
The Bears also staggered to the finish against UMass-Boston on Thursday night, allowing a 23-point second-half lead get trimmed to one before Lofton scored four straight points.
“I don’t know what it is,’’ said Farroba. “Maybe there’s a little bit of a letdown mentally or something of that nature. We just got through playing a lot of games, eight games in 16 days and that could have something to do with it.’’
BSU takes its three-game winning streak on the road to play Fitchburg State University on Tuesday night.
The Bears are one-half game behind Fitchburg State and Westfield State, who sit atop the MASCAC standings at 3-0.