College Basketball: Bridgewater State Men Open Tuesday Night
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men’s basketball team returns four starters after going 8-4 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference last season.
By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men’s basketball team returns four starters after going 8-4 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference last season.
The Bears open the schedule tonight at home against MIT before hosting the four-team Cave Classic Friday and Saturday at the Tinsley Center.
Senior Fawaz Mass of Taunton, who averaged 15.2 points to lead BSU, is back after making the All-MASCAC first team and is joined by junior Joseph Carty, a second-team all-conference selection who averaged 11.7 points and 9.8 rebounds.
Other starters who are back are junior point guard Rocky DeAndrade (10.4 points) and 6-foot-5 senior Greg Romanko (8.3 points).
Senior Patrick McGuinness, who averaged 17 minutes off the bench, is also in the starting lineup.
The Bears, who went 13-13 a year ago, struggled with injuries throughout last season.
“We were able to fight through it,’’ said coach Joe Farroba, whose team is picked to finish third in the conference. “We’re healthy now. Going through all the injuries affects you. We had three starters down at one time last season.
“I’m cautiously optimistic about this team. The seniors are going to have to carry us.’’
Mass was fifth in the MASCAC in scoring while Carty was fourth in rebounds.
The second unit will include seniors Michael Soares, who made nine starts last season, Alex White of Marshfield and Dakari Hannah-Wornum, a transfer from the Mass. College of Liberal Arts, and junior Mike Wiederkehr.
Joining the Bears this season is senior Keyon Armstrong of Brockton, who played at Dean College and Fitchburg State.
“He will give us dribble penetration,’’ said Farroba.
Young players in the mix include sophomores Justin Bowker and Darnell Richardson, who were both hurt last season, sophomore Mattieu Midouin of Taunton and freshmen Brian Grant, Christian Hon of Randolph and Rayshon Ward of Plymouth.
“We’re hoping we have good depth here,’’ said Farroba. “We have some good young players and how they develop will be a key.
“Practices have been really competitive. Getting minutes for everybody will be interesting.’’
Bridgewater State will be playing in three tournaments before opening the MASCAC season on Jan. 7.
The Cave Classic starts Friday night at the Tinsley Center with the Bears playing Becker while Springfield College and Dean College also square off.
BSU is at the Ed Hockenbury Classic in Vermont in early December and plays at the Guilford College Holiday Classic in North Carolina in late December.