Men's Basketball Falls to Framingham State in MASCAC Tournament Quarterfinals, 63-60

By Jim Fenton

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- The fifth-seeded Bridgewater State University men's basketball team was edged out of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament Tuesday night.

The Bears were unable to hold a seven-point lead down the stretch and were stopped by fourth-seeded Framingham State University, 63-60, in the quarterfinal round.

BSU cut a six-point deficit to one in the final minute but could not overtake the Rams despite a valiant attempt.

The Bears finish with a 10-16 record while the Rams (12-14) travel to top-seeded Westfield State University (19-6) on Thursday at 7 p.m. with a spot in the MASCAC final on the line.

Sophomore Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.) led BSU with 23 points, hitting four 3-pointers, while graduate student Noah Downing (Brockton, Mass.) added 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Also in double figures for the Bears were junior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists and sophomore Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) with 10 points.

Framingham State, which split the season series with BSU, was led by sophomore Joshua Saint Jean (Lynn, Mass.) with 20 points and 16 rebounds.

Senior Kyle Philistin (North Plainfield, N.J.) added 17 points and five rebounds while sophomore Dyree Rogers (New City, N.Y.) had 12 points.

The Bears, who led by as many as 17 points in the first half, took a 35-25 lead at the break.

Framingham State started the second half on a 20-10 run to pull even at 45 with 9:42 left when Philistin hit a 3-pointer.

A foul shot by senior JD Okafor (Boston, Mass.) put the Rams up, 46-45, but BSU scored the next seven points. A basket by Downing with 5:41 left put the Bears up, 53-46.

But BSU missed its next six shots and had a turnover as the Rams went on a 13-0 run to take a 59-53 lead with 1:37 remaining.

Kikuba hit a pair of foul shots to get the Bears within 59-55 with 1:30 left and a layup by Sweeney cut the deficit to 59-57 with 1:16 to play.

After a layup by Philistin made it 61-57 with 57 seconds remaining, Sweeney answered with a 3-pointer, putting the Bears within 61-60 with 43 seconds to go.

The Rams grabbed an offensive rebound with less than 20 seconds left and Philistin made two foul shots with 13.5 seconds remaining.

Sweeney attempted a potential game-tying 3-pointer from the right corner, but it missed, and the BSU season came to an end.

The Bears were behind, 9-0, in the opening 4:01 as they missed seven straight shots.

But BSU responded with a 19-2 run to take a 19-11 lead with 8:32 left in the half. Campbell had 11 of the Bears' points.

Campbell made three foul shots with 5:31 to go for a 28-13 lead, and BSU opened its biggest advantage at 33-16 with 3:03 left in the half on a Downing layup.

Framingham State finished the half on a 9-2 run to get within 10.

Framingham State made 45 percent of its shots while the Bears hit 39 percent. BSU turned 13 turnovers into 20 points and turned the ball over just seven times.

The Rams held a 41-26 edge in rebounds.

BSU was hit hard by injuries throughout the season, losing Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.) and Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.) for the remainder of the season.