Men's Basketball Falls to Fitchburg State on Senior Day

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team dropped an 80-68 decision to visiting Fitchburg State University on Senior Day at the Tinsley Center. The game marked the regular season finale for both teams.

The visiting Falcons improve to 12-13 on the season and 7-5 in the MASCAC, while the Bears fall to 8-17 overall and 6-6 in conference play. With the win, Fitchburg earns the #3 seed in next week's MASCAC Tournament and will host a first round game on Tuesday evening at seven against #6 Worcester State University. Bridgewater is the #4 seed will also host a first round game on Tuesday evening at 5:30 vs. #5 Framingham State University.

Prior to the game, the Bears honored senior guard Bo Garcia (Highland, N.Y.) and senior forward Chris Zodda (New City, N.Y.).

Junior forwards Devan Harris (Danvers, Mass.) and Jordan Jones (Worcester, Mass.) paced the Falcons with 16 points apiece. Harris went 6-for-11 from the floor and notched seven rebounds (four offensive), while Jones connected on 8 of 11 field goals and tallied seven boards (four offensive) and pair of assists in 18 minutes off the bench.

Junior guard Nicholas Tracy (Indianapolis, Ind.) added 14 points, seven rebounds, a game-high six assists and two steals for the visitors, while senior guard Jonathan Perez (Lowell, Mass.) contributed ten points, four boards and a pair of assists in 23 minutes off the bench.

Junior guard Ryan Carney (Easton, Mass.) led the Bears with a game-high 20 points to go along with four assists and two rebounds, while junior forward Rayshon Ward (Fayetteville, N.C.) checked in with 17 points, a game-high eight rebounds, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot. Sophomore forward Nick Crocker (Falmouth, Mass.) rounded out BSU's double-digit point producers with 11 points as well as six rebounds, two steals and a game-best three blocked shots.

Carney now has 980 points in his collegiate career.

After giving up the opening basket of the game, the Falcons never trailed again in a tightly contested first half but also never led by more than six points. Harris' buzzer beating layup off an offensive rebound gave the visitors a 38-34 lead at the break.

Tracy led all players with 12 players over the first 20 minutes, while Carney tallied 11 for the Bears. Fitchburg shot 38% (16-42) in the first half including 5-for-20 (25%) from three-point range. The Falcons also grabbed ten offensive rebounds which led to 13 second chance points. Bridgewater connected on 42% (13-31) of its field goal attempts in the opening stanza and went 2-for-8 (25%) from behind the arc and 6-for-10 (60%) at the free throw line.

There were four ties over the first five-plus minutes of the second half with the last coming on a Ward layup to knot the score at 46-46 with 14:51 remaining. Fitchburg, however, went on a 10-2 run over the next three minutes to open up a 56-48 advantage. The Falcons would maintain the lead the rest of the way. The Bears closed to within three following back-to-back layups by Ward and freshman guard Admar Jaramillo (Brockton, Mass.), but that would be as close as they would get as Fitchburg pulled away for the 80-68 win.

The Falcons shot 44% (33-75) for the game and 32% (8-25) from long range. Fitchburg held a decided 51-30 rebounding advantage with an 18-6 edge on the offensive glass which led to a 25-8 differential in second chance points. The Bears connected on 43% (26-61) of their field goal attempts and finished 4-for-19 (21%) from behind the arc and 12-for-18 (67%) at the charity stripe.