Men's Basketball Comeback Falls Short in 93-91 Setback to RIC

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team fell just short of pulling off a comeback victory Tuesday night.

The Bears trailed Rhode Island College by 13 points with less than seven minutes remaining but rallied to take a lead with 1:31 remaining.

A 3-pointer by junior Isaiah Dahl (Cornelius, Ore.) with 1:04 to go enabled the Anchormen to survive that come-from-behind bid, and RIC defeated BSU, 93-91, at the Tinsley Center.

The Bears close out November with a 4-3 record while the Anchormen improve to 3-3.

RIC holds a 21-18 lead in the series that began in 1985.

BSU was playing without its two leading scorers as sophomore Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.) and junior Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.) were sidelined with injuries.

Five Bears scored in double figures, led by junior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) with 22 points plus eight assists and four rebounds.

Senior TJ Williams (Jupiter, Fla.) had 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting with three rebounds and three assists while junior Samuel Omisore (Boston, Mass.) had 11 points and five rebounds.

Junior Nicolas Bontemps (Coral Springs, Fla.) had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists while sophomore Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.) contributed 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.

RIC was led by fifth-year senior Ousmane Kourouma (Woonsocket, R.I.) with 32 points on 10-for-13 shooting plus 16 rebounds (six offensive) and five blocks.

Senior Dwayne Robinson-O'Hagan (Woonsocket, R.I.) added 19 points, four rebounds and four assists while senior Deyshaun Tengbeh (East Providence, R.I.)
had 13 points, five rebounds and five assists.

RIC dominated the boards, outrebounding the Bears 54-32 with a 16-8 edge on the offensive glass. The Anchorman held a 24-8 edge in second-chance points as well as a 56-34 advantage in points in the paint.

BSU was behind, 83-70, when Robinson-O'Hagan made a layup with 6:46 remaining.

But the Bears went on a 15-3 run over the next 2:51 to climb within 86-85 with 3:57 left.

They scored 10 straight points to get within one with junior Abdoul Bah (Lynn, Mass.) making two free throws, Kikuba hitting a 3-pointer, Bontemps connecting on two foul shots and Williams added a 3-pointer.

The Bears pulled even at 89 on a layup by Omisore with 1:57 remaining, and Bontemps put BSU in front, 91-89, with 1:31 to go by scoring on a layup.

Dahal connected on his third 3-pointer of the game for a 92-91 RIC lead with just over a minute to play.

BSU missed two potential go-ahead shots in the final minute, including a 3-pointer by Kikuba with five seconds left, and Kourouma hit a foul shots with 0:00.9 left on the clock.

RIC used an 8-0 run to take a 12-4 lead just over four minutes into the game and was up, 25-14, with 11:33 left in the half after scoring six straight points.

The Anchormen stretched the lead to 35-20 on a layup by Kourouma with 8:17 to go, but BSU scored seven straight points, getting layups from Williams and Taylor and a 3-pointer by Williams.

Kikuba's three-point play moved BSU within 37-32, but a pair of Robinson-O'Hagan foul shots with five seconds to go put RIC up, 47-40, at the half.

The Bears were within 53-50 with 16:28 to go in the game on a Kikuba layup, but RIC went on a 13-2 run to open a 66-52 advantage with 14:11 left.

BSU managed just two Bontemps foul shots and went 0-for-4 from the field in that stretch.

RIC had 18 turnovers and the Bears scored 28 points off those miscues.

The Anchormen made 49 percent of their shots while BSU made 43 percent. The Bears' bench outscored RIC, 32-19.

BSU is idle until Saturday, Dec. 7 when it hosts the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth at noon.

RIC plays Sunday, Dec. 1 at Williams College at 4 p.m.