Soares Leads Men's Basketball to 81-62 MASCAC Win Over MCLA

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Senior forward Michael Soares (Milford, Mass.) scored a career-high 19 points to lead the visiting Bridgewater State University men's basketball team to an 81-62 victory over MCLA in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) contest on Wednesday evening in North Adams.

The Bears improve to 11-8 on the season and 4-2 in the MASCAC, while the Trailblazers fall to 2-15 overall and 0-6 in conference play.

Soares connected on 7 of 10 field goal attempts and was a perfect 5-for-5 at the free throw line. He also added six rebounds, including five off the offensive glass, and a pair of steals.

Junior guard Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) added 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Bears, while junior forward Joseph Carty (Natick, Mass.) tallied 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds including four offensive boards.

Junior guard Keiland Cross (Pittsfield, Mass.) poured in a game-high 38 points for MCLA as he was the only Trailblazer to finish in double figures. Cross was 9-13 from the floor and 15-17 from the charity stripe. He also recorded eight rebounds and three steals in the setback.

BSU never trailed in the game, The Bears led by as many as ten points on three occasions in the first half. Cross nearly single-handedly kept MCLA in the game by scoring 14 straight points for the Trailblazers.  With the score at 24-14 in favor of BSU, Cross would go on his run and after his final free throw of the spurt, it was just 30-28 in favor of the Bears.  BSU would eventually lead 37-32 at the half.

Cross led all player with 21 points in the first half including a trio of three-pointers. Soares scored 13 points in just 11 minutes off the bench in the opening stanza, while DeAndrade added ten points.

Bridgewater used a strong second half to pull away for the victory. The Bears would outscore MCLA 44-30 over the final 20 minutes as they quickly expanded their five-point halftime lead into double digits and never looked back.  The visitors led by as many as 28 points in the final stanza and were never threatened.

Both teams shot 44% for the game. Bridgewater, however attempted 32 more shots. The Bears went 14-for-16 (88%) at the free throw line, while Trailblazers converted 21 of 27 (78%) free throw attempts.

The Bears collected 21 assists on 31 made field goals throughout the contest. They also outrebounded the Trailblazers 38-25 with an 18-6 advantage on the offensive glass. Bridgewater also held a decided edge in points off turnovers (29-13), second chance points (18-6), points in the paint (40-14) and bench points (37-8).

In upcoming action, the Trailblazers travel to Worcester State University for a one o'clock MASCAC game with the Lancers. The Bears are off until next Wednesday (Feb. 1) evening when they entertain conference rival Framingham State University at 5:30.