By Jim Fenton

WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team opened 2025 with a non-conference road loss.

The Bears were defeated by Clark University, 96-83, on Saturday afternoon after allowing 51 second-half points.

BSU (5-6) has one more non-conference game remaining before opening the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference season on Wednesday night.

There were seven lead changes and six ties in the first half before the Cougars (6-5) held a 45-40 lead at the break.

The Bears were within three points with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game, but Clark took over down the stretch for the victory.

The teams were meeting for the first time since Clark defeated the Bears on Nov. 22, 2014 in the BSU Invitational.

The Bears were without injured sophomore starters Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.), who missed his sixth straight game, and Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.), who was hurt in Monday's win over Salve Regina.

Junior Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.) had 22 points, hitting four 3-pointers, to go with five rebounds for BSU.

Junior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) added 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds while senior TJ Williams (Jupiter, Fla.) scored 13 points.

Clark had five players in double figures, led by senior Kekoa McArdle (Pittsfield, Mass.) with 21 points and nine rebounds.

Senior Bruce Saintilus (Plainville, Mass.) contributed 16 points, seven assists and four steals while senior Isaiah Taylor (Methuen, Mass.) had 13 points and six assists.

Junior Reid Neumann (Burbank, Calif.) scored 11 points and graduate student Jordan Richard (Lawrence, Mass.) added 10.

The Bears took a 12-8 lead early, getting a pair of 3-pointers from senior captain Alex Gonzalez (Peabody, Mass.).

A Williams 3-pointer put BSU up, 25-22, with 11:23 remaining in the half and a 3-pointer by Nicolas Bontemps (Coral Springs, Fla.) gave the Bears a 32-28 edge with 9:27 to play.

Clark went on a 13-4 run to take a 41-36 lead with 3:23 to go in the half, freshman Boluwasefe John (Corona, N.Y.) hitting a pair  of baskets in the spurt.

The Cougars were in front, 45-36, before BSU hit a pair of baskets in the final 1:08 to close within five at the break.

After trailing by seven early in the second half, the Bears moved within 52-50 as Jennings scored on a layup and Kikuba made a 3-pointer with 17:22 left.

Clark answered with a 7-2 run for a 59-52 advantage and went ahead, 66-58, when freshman Kyle Squires (Kingston, Mass.) hit a 3-pointer with 13:10 to go.

A basket by Williams, a 3-pointer by graduate student Noah Downing (Brockton, Mass.) and a Jennings' layup with 10:50 remaining moved BSU within 66-65.

In the final 10 minutes, though, the deficit was never below five points. A 3-pointer by Squires with 5:11 left gave Clark an 82-71 lead and a 3-pointer by Saintilus with 4:07 to go widened the lead to 84-74.

BSU hosts Salem State at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday while Clark, which had dropped two in a row, plays Babson on Wednesday at 6 p.m.