BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team opened the 2022-2023 campaign with an 82-70 victory over visiting UMass Boston on Tuesday night at the Tinsley Center.
The win marked the first collegiate victory for BSU rookie skipper Matt McLaughlin in his head coaching debut.
The Bears (1-0), who snapped a three-game losing streak against the Beacons, are now 12-8 all-time against UMass at home. The Beacons (1-0) still lead the all-time series, 21-19, as the two teams first met back in 1984.
Senior guard Precious Okoh (Brockton, Mass.) poured in a game-high 26 points in his BSU debut. Okoh connected on 10 of 19 field goal attempts, including 4-for-8 from behind the arc, and added four rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
Sophomore guard Quinton Champagne (Wrentham, Mass.) added 11 points, three rebounds, an assist and five steals for the Bears, while classmate Alex Gonzalez (Peabody, Mass.) scored 11 points off the bench. Gonzalez went 3-for-4 from three-point range and also pulled down four rebounds.
Bridgewater State opened the game with an 18-0 run as the Bears, who led wire-to-wire, held the Beacons scoreless for over seven minutes. Five different players scored during the run led by eight points by Okoh. Bridgewater held the edge in play throughout most of the period as the Bears took a 44-22 lead into the break.
Okoh scored 16 points over the first 20 minutes as he was 3-for-4 from behind the arc.
The Bears tallied the first seven points of the second half, including a layup and three-pointer from Champagne, to open up their biggest lead of the game, 51-22.
Trailing 61-33, UMass put together an impressive 23-3 run to climb back into the game. Freshman guard Xavier McKenzie (Lowell, Mass.), senior guard Tommy Burris (Dalton, Mass.) and sophomore guard Emmanuel Zayas (Hollywood, Fla.) each connected for three-pointers during the spurt, while a pair of Malik Lorquet (Sharon, Mass.) free throws capped off the run and pulled the Beacons to within eight at 64-56.
UMass had a chance to pull to within six following a steal by McKenzie, but a hustling steal and subsequent driving layup by Champagne made it a ten-point game (66-56) with seven minutes left to play. The Beacons would get no closer than eight the rest of the way. A 10-1 BSU run, highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers from Gonzalez and junior guard Justin Parsons (Portsmouth, R.I.), would put the game out of reach as the Bears hung on for the 82-70 victory.
Junior guard Bobby Joy (Harwich, Mass.) paced UMass with 17 points on 6 of 11 shooting. Joy also finished 4-for-5 at the free throw line and added three rebounds, an assist and a pair of steals. Lorquet pulled down a game-high nine rebounds to go along with seven points.
Bridgewater shot 46% (30-65) for the game including 12-for-32 (37.5%) from behind the arc. The Bears turned the ball over 32 times with 17 miscues coming in the second half.
The Beacons connected on just 31% (21-68) of their field goal attempts, finished 7-for-29 (24%) from three-point range and committed 21 turnovers
UMass held a decided advantage at the free throw line as the Beacons went 21-for-29 (72%) at the stripe, while the Bears converted 10 of 16 (62.5%) free throw attempts.
Bridgewater held a 30-18 edge in points in the paint as well as a 13-6 advantage in second chance points.
The Bears host the Bulldogs of Dean College on Saturday evening at five o'clock. The Beacons are off until next Tuesday (Nov. 15) night when they travel to Salve Regina University for a seven o'clock game with the Seahawks.