By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team continued its rebound from an 0-4 start in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.

The Bears are now 4-5 in the conference after a 79-68 victory over the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts at the Tinsley Center Saturday afternoon.

BSU (9-13 overall) has climbed into the fourth spot of the MASCAC, one game against of Framingham State University, with three games remaining in the regular season.

The game was a Morgan's Message® awareness event.

With BSU and MCLA even at 65 with 4:27 to go, the Bears went on a 14-0 run over a span of 3:26 to earn the victory. The Bears have won two straight games at the Tinsley Center to improve to 4-8 at home.

Sophomore Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.) made 11 of 19 shots and led the way for the Bears with 26 points plus six rebounds.

Junior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) scored 22 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and added six rebounds and four assists.

Kikuba, who became the program's 31st player to reach 1,000 career points on Wednesday night, moved ahead of Terry Riley (1976-80), Devere Morris (1980-84) and Bill Scigliano (1980-84) into the No. 28 spot on the all-time list with 1,038 points.

Kikuba also increased his career assist total to 411 as he is just seven helpers shy of Mark Dias' (1982-86) all-time program mark of 418.

Sophomore Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) made four 3-pointers and scored 15 points while graduate student Noah Downing (Brockton, Mass.) had 10 points and four rebounds and junior Abdoul Bah (Lynn, Mass.) chipped in with nine rebounds and four assists.

MCLA (4-17, 2-7 MASCAC) was led by senior Quentin Gittens (Pittsfield, Mass.) with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Graduate student Jackson Brown (Latham, N.Y.) added 12 points while junior Jayden Mills (Bronx, N.Y.) grabbed eight rebounds to go with six points.

BSU led by as many as 11 points early in the second half, moving in front, 51-40, when Campbell scored on a layup with 16:49 remaining.

But the Trailblazers went on a 15-1 run in a span of 3:30 to take a 55-52 lead with 11:33 left.

The Bears missed eight shots in a row while Gittens contributed two 3-pointers, a layup and a free throw in the spurt.

BSU regained the lead at 57-55 on a Sweeney layup with 10:14 left and held a 62-59 edge when Downing made a layup with 7:38 to go.

Gittens converted a three-point play for a 64-63 lead, the last time MCLA was in front, with 6:43 remaining.

After being tied, 65-65, the Bears held the Trailblazers scoreless for nearly four minutes until senior JoJo Garcia (Henderson, Nev.) made a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left.

While MCLA was missing seven shots in a row, Kikuba scored seven of the 14 points in the BSU run to help open the 79-65 lead.

The Bears led, 37-35, at halftime with Campbell and Kikuba leading the way.

BSU had a 19-10 lead with 9:08 left in the half, but the Trailblazers cut that to 23-22 on a 3-pointer by Brown with 6:10 to go.

MCLA took its first lead at 29-28 with 3:16 left, but two foul shots by Downing and a layup by Campbell moved BSU back in front before the break.

The Bears are on the road for the next two games, first traveling to Worcester State University for a 5:30 p.m. game Wednesday. MCLA hosts Salem State on 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

Morgan's Message® was created by the family and former teammates of Morgan Rodgers, a former Duke University lacrosse student-athlete who died tragically in July 2019 after battling mental health struggles.

The mission of Morgan's Message® is to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health within the student-athlete community and equalize the treatment of physical and mental health in athletics.

Morgan's Message® aims to expand the dialogue on mental health by normalizing conversations, empowering those who suffer in silence, and supporting those who feel alone.