Bears Give Owls First League Loss, 82-79

WESTFIELD, Mass.    – Bridgwater State's TJ Williams (Jupiter, Fla.) scored 22 points and Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.) added 20, as the Bears handed Westfield State its first Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference loss of the season in a hard-fought 82-79 decision at the Woodward Center on Saturday afternoon.

Bridgewater is now 7-11 overall and 2-4 in the league, while Westfield is 14-4, 4-1 in the conference, and had an eight-game winning streak snapped.

The Bears led 44-32 at the half on the strength of 10-15 shooting from three-point range.  The Bears scored five points in the final 12 seconds of the half, on three by Williams, then after an Owls turnover on the inbounds play, Williams beat the buzzer on a drive to post the 12-point halftime lead.

Westfield rallied out of the intermission, outscoring the Bears, 23-7 in the first 8:33 of the second half. Westfield grabbed its first lead of the half, 53-51 on a Kenneth Rogers, Jr. (Springfield, Mass.) layup with 12:18 left in the game.    Rogers scored 11 of his 20 points in the big rally.  He finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. 

Lid Moreland's  (Bridgeport, Conn.) layup gave Westfield a 57-51 advantage with 11:27 left in the game.

Bridgewater hung tough, and took a 69-67 lead on a layup from Campbell with 6:33 left to play.  A Williams three extended the lead to 77-72 with 2:19 left.

The Owls got the lead back to two, 79-75 on a baseline drive from Kobe Parker (Chicopee, Mass.) with 36 seconds left in the game.

The two teams traded a pair of free throws, and the Bears pushed the lead to 82-79 when Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) made one of two free throws with 16 seconds left.  The Owls got a solid offensive possession, but couldn't get a potential trying three point shot to go down in the closing seconds and the Bears held on for the win.

Moreland finished with 20 points and three steals for the Owls, Parker added 12 points and six boards in 22 minutes off the bench.   Timmy Jacobus (Willemstad, Curacao)scored 10 for Westfield.

Three played finished with 11 points for Bridgewater, as Kikuba posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists, Samuel Omisore (Boston, Mass.) netted 11 points and nine rebounds in just 16 minutes of play while saddled with foul trouble, and Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) got his 11 on 3-5 shooting from long range and 2-2 at the foul line.  Campbell added eight boards and Williams seven.

The Bears outrebounded the Owls 47-37, and connected on 14 of 29 three-point tries.  Westfield was just 5-17 (29.4 percent) from behind the arc.

Westfield will next travel to Salem State on Wednesday for a conference game.  Bridgewater will host Trinity (Conn.) on Tuesday in a non-conference matchup.