BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Graduate center Emerson Halbleib (Carmel, Ind.) and freshman guard Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) each recorded double-doubles to lead the Bridgewater State University men's basketball team to a 98-90 victory over visiting Dean College on Saturday evening at the Tinsley Center.
The Bears improve to 2-0 on the young season, while the Bulldogs slip to 1-1. Bridgewater has won three of the five meetings of the two teams since Dean transitioned to a division III program in 2017.
Halbleib scored 21 points on 9 of 10 shooting and corralled a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with a pair of blocked shots. Kikuba posted career highs with ten points, six rebounds and a game-best 12 assists. He also recorded a steal.
Senior guard Precious Okoh (Brockton, Mass.) contributed a team-high 23 points for the Bears. Okoh also added three rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block.
Senior forward Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) checked in with a double-double to lead the way for the Bulldogs in 26 minutes off the bench. Blair scored a game-high 24 points on 8 of 15 shooting from the floor and 8-for-11 from the free throw line. He also pulled down ten rebounds (five offensive) to go along with six assists and a pair of steals.
Junior guard AJ Weston (Kansas City, Mo.) added 22 points, three assists and two steals for Dean, while junior center Malik Spearman (St. Paul, Minn.) posted a double-double with 14 points and ten rebounds in addition to four assists and a pair of steals. Junior guard Nick Grant (Houston, Texas) filled the stat sheet with 12 points, six rebound, three assists and three steals.
Trailing 47-44 at the break, the Bears opened the second half with a 16-2 run to pull ahead 60-49 and take control of the game. Junior forward Peyton Priest (Papillion, Neb.) drained a pair of three-pointers during the game-changing run, while Okoh and sophomore guard Quinton Champagne (Wrentham, Mass.) also knocked down trifectas.
Bridgewater maintained the lead throughout the rest of the game and got up by as many as 13 points (72-59). The Bulldogs did pull to within five (79-74) following a Spearman layup with 5:50 left to play, but the Bears answered with a quick 7-2 run capped off by an Okoh three-pointer to push the lead back to ten, 86-76, with 4:29 remaining.
The Bears shot 53% (35-66) for the game including 13-for-24 from behind the arc.
The Bulldogs connected on 40.4% (36-89) of their field goal attempts but went just 3-for-13 (23%) from three-point range.
Bridgewater finished with a 50-44 rebounding advantage, while Dean had the advantage on the offensive glass, 17-11.
The Bulldogs held the edge in points in the paint (46-40), points off turnovers (26-19) and second chance points (13-9). The Dean bench also outscored the BSU reserves, 32-28, led by Blair's 24.
In upcominh action, the Bears travel to Emerson College on Wednesday evening to take on the Lions at five o'clock. The Bulldogs head to Mitchell College on Tuesday night for a six o'clock game with the Mariners.