Men's Basketball Falls to Central at D3hoops.com Classic, 100-68

By Jim Fenton

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team ended its two-game trip to the 15th annual D3hoops.com Classic with a loss on Tuesday.

After winning the opener against Whittier College on Sunday, the Bears were defeated by Central College of Pella, Iowa, 100-68, at the South Point Arena.

BSU returns home with a 2-9 record after finishing the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Central, a member of the American Rivers Conference, improved to 7-5 with a third straight win. The Dutch won their Las Vegas opener on Monday over Occidental, 82-69.

The Bears led only once at 10-9 just 4:13 into the game, but they were outscored, 49-20, the rest of the half and were behind, 58-30, at the break.

Central became the sixth BSU opponent in 11 games to reach the 100-point mark.

Senior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) had 13 points, four assists and two steals for the Bears while junior Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) scored 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting, hitting a pair of 3-pointers in 14 minutes off the bench.

Senior Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.) had eight points and six rebounds (four offensive) while junior Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.) chipped in with seven points, five rebounds and a pair of assists.

Junior Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.), in his second game of the season, scored nine points with three steals while senior Aidan Rock (Westport, Mass.) contributed six points, six rebounds and three blocks.

Central had five players in double figures, led by freshman Braylon Thomsen (Carbon Cliff, Ill.) with 16 points, including four 3-pointers.

Freshman Kyle Cason (Grimes, Iowa) added 15 points and four rebounds while sophomore Anthony Gott (Davenport, Iowa) had 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting with seven rebounds and two steals.

Sophomore Carson Jones (Elkhorn, Neb.) had 12 points and sophomore Sage Suntken (Sheffield, Iowa) had 11 points with three 3-pointers.

Central made 49 percent of its shots and was 14-for-35 on 3-pointers while holding a 52-36 edge in rebounds.

The Bears shot 38 percent and missed 20 of 25 shots from 3-point range.

Central took a 7-2 lead 2:20 into the game before the Bears closed to 9-8 on a 3-pointer by Rock with 16:31 left in the half.

A layup by Kikuba with 15:47 remaining put BSU on top for the only time at 10-9, but the Bears were outscored, 24-4, and fell behind, 33-14 with 10:18 left.

The Dutch needed less than three minutes to go on a 15-2 run, getting 3-pointers from Schipper and Thomsen while BSU managed just a basket in the paint by Campbell.

The Bears missed four shots and turned the ball over twice in that span.

Central then went on a 9-0 run to build the 19-point advantage near the midway point of the half.

A tip-in by Thomsen put Central ahead, 38-16, and the Bears would get no closer than 16 the rest of the half.

The Dutch finished with a 12-2 run to open the largest lead of the half, 28 points.

Central's advantage reached 30 at 60-30 in the opening minute of the second half on two Jones foul shots.

The Dutch were ahead by 34 on four occasions and BSU was no closer than 27 the entire second half.

A basket by sophomore Ross Kusel (Manning, Iowa) with 47 seconds to play allowed Central to reach 100 points.

BSU will open its 14-game Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference schedule on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at Fitchburg State University at 7 p.m.

Central returns to ARC play with a game on Jan. 7 against Loras College at 7:30 p.m.