NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The MCLA men's basketball team saw a double-digit first half lead disappear, but held off a hard-charging Bridgewater State squad to earn a 72-67 win over the Bears on Saturday afternoon.
The Trailblazers won their second straight game against the MASCAC's top two teams as they improve to 6-13 on the season and 3-4 in league play. The Bears fall to 11-9 overall and 5-2 in the MASCAC.
MCLA was led by four players in double figures. John Jones had 14 points to lead the team while Paul Maurice added 12.
BSU was paced by Kyle Gibson's game-high 21 point effort. Brendan Monteiro scored 17 points, including the 1,000th of his career in the second half.
After MCLA raced out to a 37-25 halftime edge, the Bears immediately made a run. Six straight points to open the half cut the deficit to six points at 37-31. MCLA would push back out to a ten point lead at 41-31 before the Bears rallied to take their only lead of the night.
BSU used a 17-5 run, capped off by Monteiro's milestone free throw, to take a 48-46 edge with 10:02 remaining. The Bears struggled after the free throw though, as MCLA responded with a 10-1 run to take charge at 56-49. Once again the Bears would fight back eventually tying the game on three occasions, the last of which came when Gibson's jumper tied it at 63-63 with 2:31 remaining.
From there, MCLA would convert on their next four jumpers to pull ahead. Anthony Barbosa went coast to coast to break the tie. After Monteiro made one of two at the line, Todd Hunt hit a tough turnaround and the Trailblazers led by three points at 67-64 with 1:20 left.
Michael Lofton could only convert the front end at the line and Hunt once again scored, this time with 36 seconds left, to make it 69-65 in favor of MCLA. On the Bears' next possession, Monteiro drilled what appeared to be a three-pointer, however the basket was waived off on an illegal screen call giving MCLA the ball. Forced to press, MCLA scored an uncontested layup to all but wrap up the key victory.
Jones struggled from the floor as he was just 4-15, but he did go 5-6 from the line. He added 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Joining Jones and Maurice in double-figures were Jeremic Bennett and Hunt, who finished with 12 and ten points respectively.
For the Bears, Gibson was 8-for-13 from the floor and finished off the double-double with ten rebounds. Monteiro shook off a tough first half to finish with his 17 points. Lofton filled the stat sheet with 13 points, 12 boards, and four blocks.