CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Led by four players in double figures and 14 three-pointers, the MIT men's basketball team opened the 2017-18 season with a 91-52 win over Bridgewater State University on Wednesday night at Rockwell Cage.
This marks the third straight year that MIT has opened the regular season against the Bears, with the Engineers winning each of those three meetings and now holding a 4-3 advantage in the all-time series.
The Engineers used a 17-5 run to close out the first half to turn a five-point lead (26-21) into a double-digit advantage (43-26). MIT was never threatened in the second half as the Engineers quickly extended the lead to 20 (53-33) with 14:16 remaining and got up by as many as 40 points late in the stanza en route to the easy win.
Freshman Hamilton Forsythe (Weston, Conn.) was tremendous for the Engineers in his collegiate debut as he finished with 29 points on 10-for-12 shooting from the field and 8-for-10 from three-point land in 20 minutes off the bench.
Junior Bradley Jomard (Paris, France) contributed 18 points, eight assists and five rebounds for MIT, while junior Tim Roberts (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) added 15 points and eight rebounds, and junior Cameron Korb (Los Gatos, Calif.) tallied 13 points off the bench.
BSU senior Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) was the leading scorer for the Bears with 19 points, including a trio of three-pointers, while sophomore Rayshon Ward (Plymouth, Mass.) added ten points in 26 minutes of action.
The Engineers shot 55.9 percent from the field for the game, 46.7 percent from three and forced 19 Bridgewater turnovers. MIT also held a commanding 39-21 advantage in rebounding, including 29-18 on the defensive glass, and finished with a decided edge in points off turnovers (20-5), points in the paint (38-16), second chance points (16-4) and bench points (46-19).
The Bears connected on just 39.6 percent of their field goal attempts and converted 5 of 20 (25%) three-point attempts.
MIT is receiving votes in the D3Hoops.com Preseason National Poll.
MIT is home again on Saturday as the Engineers host Eastern Nazarene College at 2:00 PM. Bridgewater State travels to SUNY Potsdam for the North Country Invitational on Friday and Saturday.