BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Five different Bears scored in double-figures as the Bridgewater State University men's basketball team posted an 87-60 victory over Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) foe Fitchburg State University on Thursday night at the Tinsley Center.
The Bears improve to 11-8 on the season and remain tied atop the MASCAC standings with a 5-1 conference mark. The visiting Falcons fall to 1-15 overall and 1-5 in MASCAC play.
Junior forward Kyle Gibson (Franklin, Mass.) paced Bridgewater State with 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting. Gibson also grabbed seven rebounds, including five off the offensive glass, and recorded three steals.
BSU junior guard Justin Clark (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) registered his first career double-double as he scored ten points and dished out a career-high 11 assists. Senior guard Brendan Monteiro (Brockton, Mass.) added 16 points, two assists and two steals. With his 16 points, Monteiro increased his career scoring total to 992.
Rounding out the Bears' double-figure scorers were junior guard Barrett Murphy (Marshfield, Mass.) and junior forward Diijon Reid (Mattapan, Mass.). Murphy came off the bench to score 12 points in 16 minutes as he knocked down 3 of 4 three-point attempts. Reid finished with 11 points on 3 of 4 shooting in 12 minutes off the bench to go along with five rebounds and a pair of steals.
The Bears trailed 2-0 after a Brian Weihn (Clinton, Mass.) layup opened the scoring for the Falcons. A pair of Gibson free throws tied the game and Monteiro followed with a three-pointer to give BSU a 5-2 lead. The Bears would never trail again. A 10-0 run capped off by a Murphy trifecta opened up a double-digit advantage (20-5) with 13:29 remaining in the stanza. Bridgewater would get up by as many as 24 points on three separate occasion over the first twenty minutes and headed to the intermission leading 45-24.
Gibson paced the Bears with ten first-half points while Monteiro scored eight and Reid scored nine on 3-for-3 shooting.
Fitchburg never threatened the rest of the way as the Falcons got only as close as 17 points (66-49) in the second half. A late 8-0 run by the BSU bench gave the Bears their biggest lead of the night at 87-57 as the clock ticked down to a minute left to play.
Sophomore guard Anthony Muccioli (Nashua, N.H.) tallied 22 points to go along with eight rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals to lead the way for the Falcons. Muccioli was 6-for-9 from behind the arc and a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line. Junior guard Lincoln Wright (Brockton, Mass.) added 12 points off the bench.
Bridgewater shot 46% (26-57) from the floor including an impressive 11-for-19 (58%) from three-point range. The Bears also made 35 trips to the free throw line (24-35), held a 32-9 advantage in points off turnovers, and blocked nine shots. BSU's nine blocked shots, led by five from junior forward Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.), marked a season-high.
Fitchburg connected on 37% (21-57) of its' field goal attempts and finished 9-for-17 (53%) from behind the arc and 9-for-10 (90%) at the free throw line. The Falcons held a 39-31 rebounding advantage with a 16-11 edge off the offensive glass.
The MASCAC schedule resumes for both teams on Saturday afternoon. The Bears travel to MCLA for a three o'clock game with the Trailblazers, while the Falcons entertain Salem State University also at three.