Men's Basketball Falls to Salem State, 84-73, on Senior Night

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Bryan Ortiz (Salem, Mass.) and Tavone Wynder (Boston, Mass.) Scored 18 points apiece to lead the visiting Salem state University men's basketball team to an 84-73 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) victory over Bridgewater State University on Tuesday night at the Tinsley Center.

The Vikings, who avenged a 79-77 home loss to the Bears back on January 19th, improve to 14-9 on the season and 6-4 in the MASCAC.  The Bears slip to 10-12 overall and 4-6 in conference play.  Salem is alone in third place in the MASCAC standings while Bridgewater is tied with Worcester State for fifth place.  The Bears and the Lancers go head-to-head on Thursday night (8:00) in Worcester.

Wynder added eight rebounds and three assists to his 18 points.  Jamal McCollum (Boston, Mass.) posted a double-double with 12 points and ten boards to go along with three steals, while Hanell Velez (Woburn, Mass.) came off the bench to notch 11 points, five rebounds and five assists.  Jon Perez (Weymouth, Mass.) also came off the bench to score nine points on 3 of 5 shooting from three-point range in just eight minutes of action.

Shawn Yard (Brockton, Mass.) paced the host Bears with 19 points, four rebounds, five assists and four steals.  Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.) registered a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards (five offensive) despite running into foul trouble, while Anthony Fortes (Providence, R.I.) tallied 13 points and seven rebounds.

It was the hosts who got off to a quick start as the Bears held the edge in play for most of the first half.  Bridgewater led by as much as 14 (20-6) and held a 28-18 advantage with 7:21 remaining in the stanza.  A quick 8-2 spurt by the Vikings, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from Ortiz, pulled the visitors to within four.  A Perez trifecta with 51 seconds left gave Salem its' first lead since the opening minutes, but BSU sophomore guard Justin Clark (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) answered with a three-pointer to give the Bears a 39-38 lead heading into the intermission.

Neither team led by more than four points in the second half until an Andrew White (Medford, Mass.) dunk staked the visitors to a 64-58 advantage with 8:54 left to play.  Moments later, Perez drained his third trifecta of evening to push the Viking lead to eight (67-59). Bridgewater would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way as the Bears were hampered by 13 second half turnovers.

Salem shot 48.4% (30-62) from the floor and connected on 18 of 23 (78.3%) free throw attempts.  The Vikings held a 38-32 rebounding advantage and outscored the Bears 48-32 in the paint.

The Bears converted on 42.9% (24-56) of their field goal attempts and finished 6-for-17 (35.3%) from behind the arc.

Tonight's game marked Senior Night at the Tinsley Center as Yard, Fortes and fellow BSU senior Brendan McDonald (Dorchester, Mass.) were honored during a pre-game ceremony.