By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The nationally ranked Wesleyan University men's basketball team has already exceeded its win total from a year ago.

The Cardinals, who went 13-12 last season, are off to a 14-0 start and are No. 16 in the most recent D3hoops.com poll.

Bridgewater State University got an up-close look at Wesleyan on Monday night at the Tinsley Center and saw exactly why the Cardinals are on such a roll.

The Bears fell behind, 10-0, less than three minutes in and were unable to deal with Wesleyan's strong lineup from start to finish.

BSU lost to the Cardinals, 90-46, the worst defeat for the Bears since a 98-45 setback to Guilford at the Guiford Holiday Classic in North Carolina on Dec. 29, 2022.

Wesleyan, which plays in the highly competitive New England Small College Athletic Conference, shot 49 percent, outrebounded BSU, 58-25, and had 15 players score at least two points.

"They're very good," said Bears' coach Matt McLaughlin. "They're very disciplined, very well coached and they have guys. They've got length and the guys that come in from them have length, too. They don't get shorter."

The game was the final one for BSU (5-7) before it opens the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule Wednesday, hosting Salem State at 5:30 p.m.

BSU, which was 17-for-62 (27 percent) had only one player in double figures.

Senior TJ Williams (Jupiter, Fla.) came off the bench to score 11 points with three 3-pointers and grabbed three rebounds.

Graduate student Noah Downing (Brockton, Mass.) was next with seven points and four rebounds.

The five BSU starters combined for 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting with 12 turnovers.

The Cardinals were led by senior Shane Regan (Larchmont, N.Y.) with 14 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two assists in 20 minutes.

Also in double figures were junior Jackson Cormier (Houston, Texas) with 12 points, four rebounds and two blocks in 17 minutes while junior Sam Pohlman (New York, N.Y.) had 10 points and five rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench.

The Bears didn't score until a steal and layup by junior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) with 16:24 to go in the first half made it 10-2.

BSU got no closer than 12-6 on a Williams' layup with 14:12 to go as Wesleyan opened a 22-10 lead before the Bears got the deficit in single figures (28-19) one final time on a 3-pointer by junior Louis Jennings (Wapole, Mass.) with 6:30 remaining.

The Bears' final points of the half came on a 3-pointer by Williams with 3:09 left, making it 37-27, but the Cardinals scored the final six points for a 43-27 halftime edge.

The closest BSU would get in the second half was 44-29 with 19:25 remaining on a jumper by senior captain Alex Gonzalez (Peabody, Mass.).

Wesleyan opened a 20-point lead (49-29) a minute later and was up by 30 (64-34) with 12:46 remaining on a layup by Pohlman. The first 40-point lead came with 3:06 left at 84 44.

BSU is in a stretch of four games in eight days, beginning with a road game Saturday against Clark University.

"Definitely not easy, but at the same time, we love to play these games," said McLaughlin. "When you get a chance, you take them. You have an opportunity to play teams of this caliber and to understand if we want to be there, we have to see what that is like and how to compete in that environment and level."

There were defensive breakdowns and struggles on the boards that the Bears will look to improve on going into the MASCAC schedule.

BSU is now roughly halfway through the season with 12 of the remaining 13 games against conference opponents and the other against Trinity.

"It's about trying to get better at the controlables," said McLaughlin. "Just trying to do the little things and hopefully the rest will take care of itself.

"It's just attacking the glass, trying to be better on defense, more communicative. It's trying to do the little things really well and I thought we didn't do that tonight.

"We could have done a better job of doing those little things because when you play teams like that, you have to be spot on. There's very little room for error when you play them. They're ranked for a reason."