By Jim Fenton

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team lost its fourth straight game Saturday afternoon and fell to 0-2 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The Bears were outscored, 30-12, during a nine-minute stretch of the second half after holding a 10-point lead and were defeated by Framingham State University, 78-75.

BSU (5-9) is off to its first 0-2 start in the MASCAC since the 2005-06 season.

The Bears had cut an eight-point Rams' lead to three with 1:40 remaining and had chances to tie the game, but they missed four 3-point attempts in the last 24 seconds.

Junior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) had 27 points, hitting 10 of 15 shots, for the Bears and added seven rebounds and five assists. Kikuba has 937 career points in 66 games for the Bears.

Junior Steven Morrell (Rochester, Mass.) added a double-double with 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. The double-double marked the first of Morrell's career.

Senior TJ Williams (Jupiter, Fla.) had 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds while junior Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.) had eight points and eight rebounds.

Framingham State (7-8, 0-2 MASCAC) was led by sophomore Joshua Saint Jean (Lynn, Mass.) with 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Senior Kyle Philistin (North Plainfield, N.J.) added 24 points, making 9 of 14 shots and going 6-for-10 on 3-pointers.

Junior Joshua-Daniel Okafor (Boston, Mass.) scored 10 points for the Rams, who broke a five-game losing streak.

The Bears outrebounded Framingham State, 54-21, and had a 22-6 edge in offensive rebounds. BSU turned the ball over 16 times and shot just 40 percent while the Rams made 51 percent of their shots.

A 3-pointer by Kikuba with 15:35 remaining gave BSU a 51-41 lead, but Framingham State responded with nine straight points to get within 51-50 with 13:32, capping the run with a Philistin 3-pointer.

That was the beginning of the 30-12 run that took place over nine minutes.

A Morrell layup put BSU ahead, 53-50, but the Rams outscored the Bears, 14-6, for a 64-59 lead with 9:38 to play.

A Jennings' layup pulled BSU within 64-63 with 8:26 remaining, but Framingham State scored the next seven points for a 71-63 lead, getting two foul shots from Saint Jean, a layup by Philistin and a 3 pointer by senior Jordan Howard (Miami Gardens, Fla.) with 6:18 left.

The Bears closed within 76-73 with 3:18 to go after 3-pointers by Williams and Kikuba and a Morrell layup and cut the deficit to 78-75 on a dunk by junior Samuel Omisore (Boston, Mass.) with 1:40 left.

While the Rams were held scoreless over the final 2:55, BSU was unable to score after the Omisore basket.

The Bears missed a potential tying 3-pointer after a timeout with 7.5 seconds to go. After a missed Rams' free throw, BSU had another 3-pointer from the top of the key miss just before the buzzer.

The Bears held a 39-32 lead at halftime, using a 13-0 run to move in front.

Framingham State was up, 12-6, as the Bears went scoreless for nearly four minutes. That is when BSU scored 13 unanswered points over nearly four minutes for a 19-12 lead.

The Rams moved within two, but Williams and sophomore Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) hit 3-pointers and Kikuba made a layup at the end of the half.

BSU is on the road Wednesday night, traveling to North Adams for a 5 p.m. game against the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Framingham State will be at Salem State on Wednesday at 5 p.m.