By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team ended the non-conference portion of its schedule by losing to a nationally ranked opponent.
The Bears had a two-game winning streak stopped when they were defeated by Trinity College of Hartford, Conn., 75-51, Tuesday night at the Tinsley Center.
BSU is now 7-12 while the Bantams, who are ranked No. 16 in this week's D3hoops.com Division III poll, improved to 16-3.
Trinity reached the semifinal round of the NCAA tournament last season, losing to Trine to finish with a program-best 30-2 record.
The Bears, who led just once, had just one player score in double figures with sophomore Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) getting a career-high 15 points, hitting three 3-pointers.
Sophomore Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.) had nine points and four rebounds while junior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) contributed five assists and four rebounds.
Trinity, a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference, was led by junior Jarrel Okorougo (Stoneham, Mass.) with 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting plus eight rebounds.
Senior Sean Macarchuk (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.) had 11 points while junior Drew Lazarre (West Haven, Conn.) had 10 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
Trinity made 45 percent of its shots while the Bears hit 30 percent (18-for-60) and missed 28 of 35 shots from 3-point range.
The Bantams held a 36-24 lead at halftime after being ahead by as many as 16 points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Bears' lone lead came when senior TJ Williams (Jupiter, Fla.) made a 3-pointer 48 seconds into the game for a 3-2 edge.
BSU was within one at 6-5 and 11-10 when Sweeney made a jumper and a 3-pointer and closed to 18-16 on two foul shots by Kikuba with 10:44 left before the break.
But the Bantams responded with a 16-2 run to open a 34-18 lead with 4:04 to go in the half.
During that stretch, BSU managed just a jumper by graduate student Noah Downing (Brockton, Mass.).
The Bears went more than eight minutes with just one field goal before Campbell hit a layup with 2:49 left, cutting Trinity's lead to 34-20.
A pair of foul shots by junior Abdoul Bah (Lynn, Mass.) enabled BSU to be within 12 at halftime.
Trinity made 47 percent of its shots in the opening half while the Bears hit only 30 percent and went 3-for-17 from 3-point range.
Both teams were scoreless in the second half until Lazarre hit a 3-pointer with 17:02 to go for a 39-24 lead.
The Bears were within 12 at 39-27 and 41-29 after baskets by Campbell, but Trinity went on an 11-2 run for a 52-31 lead with 11:40 remaining.
BSU missed eight straight shots before a layup by freshman Jamaal McConnell (Boston, Mass.) with 11:51 to go.
After falling behind by 23, the closest the Bears got was 57-39 with 9:21 to go on a jumper by Sweeney.
Trinity's largest lead was 26 points after that. The Bantams had assists on 21 of their 30 baskets.
Trinity now holds a 4-3 lead in the series with BSU, winning the last three meetings.
The Bears have six regular-season games remaining, all in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.
BSU opens the second half of the conference schedule at noon on Saturday at Salem State University.
At 2-4, the Bears are in fifth place in the MASCAC.
Trinity is home on Friday for a 7 p.m. game against Connecticut College in the NESCAC.