Men's Basketball Falls to Clark, 72-70

Clark University 72, Bridgewater State University 70

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team dropped a 72-70 decision to visiting Clark University in the opening game of the BSU Bears Invitational.

Nicholas DaPrato (Marshfield, Mass.) buried the game-winning fade-away jumper with 14 seconds remaining to break a 70-70 tie and give the visiting Cougars the win.

Clark (2-1) will take on Middlebury College in the tournament championship game on Sunday afternoon at two, while Bridgewater State (1-2) will face Medgar Evers College in the consolation game on Sunday at noon. Middlebury cruised to a 99-45 victory in the other opening round match-up.

Andrew Musler (Belmont, Mass.) paced Clark with 25 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots, while DaPrato added 21 points, four boards and three assists.

BSU senior forward Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.) led the way for Bridgewater State with 25 points, including 19 in the second half. Lofton connected on 10 of 13 field goal attempts and also recorded seven rebounds and five assists.

Senior forward Kyle Gibson (Franklin, Mass.) added 20 points on 9 of 13 shooting to go along with five rebounds as the Bears' frontline tandem combined for 45 of the team's 70 points.

In a game decided by just two points, free throw shooting ultimately was a key factor as the Bears missed nine shots from the charity stripe going 10-for-19 (53%) at the line.  Conversely, the Cougars connected on 80% (12-15) of their free throw attempts.

Clark also held a 38-27 rebounding advantage.

The Bears never led in the contest and trailed by as many as ten points in the first half and nine in the final stanza.

Down nine (68-59) with 5:35 remaining, the Bears used an 11-2 run to knot the score at 70-70. Freshman guard Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) scored five points during the run, while Lofton tallied four points including the game-tying layup with 1:39 left to play.

After a Cougar offensive foul, the Bears had a chance to take their first lead of the game but a long jumper by DeAndrade was off target.

That would set the stage for DaPrato who knocked down the game-winner as time was winding down on the shot clock.

Following a timeout with eight seconds remaining, BSU sophomore guard Patrick McGuinness (New City, N.Y.) was able to get off an off-balance three-pointer but was unable to find the mark as time expired.

Clark shot 53% (28-53) from the floor for the game including 4-for-14 (29%) from three-point range.  Bridgewater connected on 48% of its field goal attempts (48%) and finished 4-for-13 (31%) from behind the arc.