By Jim Fenton

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team lost for the fourth time in five games Wednesday night.

The Bears were defeated by the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 86-76, at the Amsler Campus Center, giving the Trailblazers a split of the season series.

BSU (7-15) is now 5-6 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference while MCLA (7-13) improved to 4-7 in the conference.

The Bears took a one-point lead with 8:23 remaining after trailing by eight in the second half, but the Trailblazers outscored BSU, 17-7, over a span of nearly five minutes to regain control.

Junior Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.) led the Bears with 21 points and six rebounds while junior Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) made 5 of 10 shots from 3-point range while scoring 17 points and had three rebounds.

Senior Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.) had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds and senior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) scored eight points with six assists and four rebounds. Kikuba was playing in his 100th career game.

MCLA had five players in double figures, led by freshman Frank Field (Adams, Mass.) with 18 points plus 10 rebounds.

Senior Craig Williams (Dover, Del.) added 16 points while senior Jayden Mills (Bronx, N.Y.) scored 14 points to go with 10 rebounds.

Junior Kamau Franks (Converse, Texas) had 12 points, six rebounds and five assists while graduate student Colby Burleson (Pittsboro, N.C.) scored 12 points.

BSU shot 39 percent from the floor, going 8-for-28 on 3-pointers, while the Trailblazers hit 43 percent and were 6-for-28 from long range.

MCLA outscored BSU, 44-34, in the paint and turned 15 Bears' turnovers into 19 points.

BSU was down, 49-41, with 12:55 to go after the Trailblazers scored eight straight points, taking advantage of four turnovers in less than three minutes.

But BSU rallied to go in front, 54-53, with Kikuba making a 3-pointer with 9:29 left to cap a 7-0 run.

Taylor hit a jumper with 8:23 remaining for a 57-56 Bears' lead.

That was the last time BSU would be in front, though as MCLA went on a 17-7 run in roughly five minutes for a 73-64 lead with 3:15 to go.

A 3-pointer by Williams and a layup by Mills moved the lead to nine points.

Taylor hit a jumper to get the Bears as close as 73-66 with 3:16 to go, but MCLA went up by 12 at 80-68 and sealed the game from the foul line.

BSU and MCLA were tied at 33 at the midway point.

Jennings scored the first six points of the game for BSU to make it 6-6, but MCLA used a 9-0 run for a 19-9 advantage with 12:11 left in the half.

Burleson scored five of the points for the Trailblazers.

BSU fell behind, 25-13, at the midway point of the first half, then went on a 12-2 run to close within 27-25 with 5:39 to go.

Sophomore Jamaal McConnell (Mattapan, Mass.) hit the first five points of the run and Taylor the last five.

A 3-pointer by Sweeney made it 29-29 and a jumper by Taylor made it 31-31 before Jennings finished the half with a layup that made it 33-33.

BSU took an early 36-33 lead on a Sweeney 3-pointer to start the second half.

The Bears will play at Westfield State on Saturday at 2 p.m., one of three games remaining in the regular season.

MCLA travels to Framingham State for a 2 p.m. game Saturday.

Notes: Matt McLaughlin was coaching in his 100th career game as the Bears' head coach.