BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Senior guard Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA) knocked down the game-winning layup with 16 seconds left to play as the Bridgewater State College men's basketball team locked up their second straight Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference (MASCAC) regular season title with a 74-70 come-from-behind victory over Worcester State this evening in Bridgewater.
Bridgewater State remains unbeaten in MASCAC play as the Bears improve to 10-0 in the conference and 16-6 overall. The win marked the 250th coaching victory for BSC skipper Joe Farroba who is in 18th season as the Bears' head coach. Farroba's career coaching record now stands at 250-220.
Junior guard Judah Jackson (Everett, MA) tallied 15 points, including the 1,000th of his career, as he became the 25th player in BSC men's basketball history to reach the milestone. The milestone point came with 15:05 remaining in the game as he knocked down a pair of free throws. Jackson also added eight rebounds, two assists and four steals and finished 7-for-8 from the free throw line.
McLaughlin posted team-high totals of 16 points, four assists and five steals. He connected on 7 of 10 field goal attempts. The Bears also received 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals from junior forward Nicholas Motta (Fairhaven, MA), and 11 points and two assists from junior guard Corey Connor (Providence, RI).
Bridgewater overcame an outstanding individual performance from Worcester State senior forward Maurice Horton (Detroit, MI) who posted a double-double with game-high totals of 27 points and ten rebounds. Horton connected on 10 of 15 field goal attempts, including 4-for-6 from three-point range, and also dished out five assists.
Freshman guard Tim Henault (Lunenburg, MA) added 14 points for the Lancers as he knocked down 4 of 9 three-point attempts.
Bridgewater State opened the game with an 11-6 lead five minutes
in before the Lancers went on a 13-0 run - including a pair of
trey's and nine points by Horton - to jump ahead 19-11 at 10:54.
The Bears converted consecutive turnovers into four points to trail
by four (19-15), but WSC would go on an 8-2 surge to lead 27-17
with 6:06 left.
With Worcester State up 36-25 at 2:17, BSC outscored the Lancers
8-2 to close out the half down by just five at 38-33.
The first three minutes of the second stanza would see both
teams go back and forth as the Lancers led 46-38 at 17:12 before
Bridgewater State went on a 7-0 spurt to trail by one point at
15:15 (46-45). Worcester State went back up by three on a Henault
lay-up, but Jackson knocked back two free throws to pull BSC back
to within one.
The Bears then converted a miscue for the 49-48 lead with 14:41
remaining to set off a string of three ties and three lead changes
over the next seven minutes of play. Worcester State
finally emerged with the 62-59 edge as Henault gave the
visitors the lead at 7:02.
The Lancers would go up by eight with five minutes left (67-59),
but would foolishly commit four consecutive fouls to put
Bridgewater State back in the game as they went 6-for-6 from the
charity stripe to trail by two at 4:03 (67-65). Motta would
knot the game up 67-67 following another WSC miscue.
Sophomore Raynaldi Voyard (Leominster, MA) drained
three free throws to put the Lancers up 70-67, but that was the
last time they would lead. A wild sequence would follow over the
next 60 seconds as Worcester State would miss three shots from the
field and BSC would miss two of their own before a foul at 1:51
would send junior Ryan Testagrossa (Athol, MA) to
the line.
Testragrossa had a chance to make it a four possession game, but he
would miss the front end of a one-and-one. The Bears pounced at
the opportunity and got to within one on a second chance point
by Motta at 1:29 (70-69).
Worcester State would commit two straight turnovers before
Mclaughlin gave Bridgewater State the 72-70 lead on a traditional
three-point play. Junior Dave Douillette
(Bridgewater, MA) tried to jack a three-pointer for the go ahead
points, but he was blocked by Motta. Jackson canned a pair of free
throws in the waning seconds to help secure the victory for the
Bears.
The Lancers were guilty of 26 turnovers for the contest as Bridgewater held a 38-6 edge in points off turnovers. Of the 26 miscues, 17 were as a result of BSC steals.