Men's Basketball Wraps Up Regular Season Play with 96-87 Setback to Worcester State

By Jim Fenton

WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team finished the regular season with a road loss on Saturday afternoon.

After holding a three-point halftime lead, the Bears were outscored, 50-38, and were defeated by Worcester State University, 96-87.

BSU (8-17) will be in the No. 5 seed in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament with a 6-8 record.

The Bears will play a quarterfinal-round game on Tuesday night at fourth-seeded Framingham State (14-11, 7-7).

Worcester State scored 15 unanswered points in the second half to move past BSU, hitting 22 of 40 shots after the break. The Lancers overcame an early 13-point deficit.

Bears senior Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.) had a career-high 34 points on 15-for-23 shooting and added nine rebounds.

Jennings scored 14 straight points for BSU during one stretch of the first half.

Junior Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.) added 23 points plus eight rebounds and seven assists.

Senior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) scored 13 points and pulled down a career-best 12 rebounds to go along with four assists and a season-high seven steals.

Kikuba now has 242 steals in his career as he is tied with Nicholas Motta (2007-11) for second place on the Bears' all-time list. Bruce Higgins (1993-97) is the program's all-time leader with 247 steals.

Worcester State junior Dajon Burton (Brockton, Mass.) had a team-high 21 points and five rebounds while sophomore Joe Okla (Worcester, Mass.) added 14 points, 14 rebounds and five assists.

Senior Johnny Annan (Worcester, Mass.) scored 14 points and sophomore Jaydon Buckle (Windsor Locks, Conn.) added 12 rebounds while junior Ethan Daieba (Dorchester, Mass.) scored 11.

The Bears made 46 percent of their shots but were 5-for-24 on 3-pointers and had 17 turnovers result in 19 points.

The Lancers hit 50 percent of their shots and went 6-for-14 on 3-pointers.

BSU jumped to a 17-4 lead in the opening 5:36 as the Lancers missed 8 of 9 shots and had four turnovers to start the game.

Junior Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) scored seven of the Bears' points.

Worcester State moved within 21-19 with 11:14 left in the half after a 15-4 run with Burton scoring five points and BSU missing 5 of 7 shots.

The Lancers took a 27-25 lead on three Burton free throws, but a 9-0 run by the Bears put them back on top, 40-31, with 3:56 left.

Jennings had all nine of those points, part of a run in which he scored 14 straight for BSU.

The surge by Jennings had the Bears leading, 41-34, with 3:22 to go and a layup by Taylor made it 43-34.

The lead was 45-36 with 2:53 remaining when Worcester State scored eight in a row before Kikuba hit two foul shots with two seconds left, giving BSU a 47-44 halftime lead.

The Bears made 57 percent of their shots in the half and scored 28 points in the paint. Jennings had 20 of his points in the half.

BSU was on top, 51-46, with 17:36 to go following a layup by senior Aidan Rock (Westport, Mass.).

But a layup by Annan 1:30 later gave the Lancers a 53-51 lead.

There were four lead changes after that before Taylor's foul shot had BSU within 58-57 with 13:40 left.

That's when Worcester State went on its 15-0 surge over 2:48, giving the Lancers a 73-57 lead with 10:37 to go.

The Bears missed all five shots from the field and two free throws while Daieba had seven of the Lancers' points.

A Kikuba layup pulled BSU within 73-61, but the Bears would get no closer than nine the rest of the way.

BSU won twice against Framingham State, its opponent in the conference tourney, during the regular season, including 74-69, last Wednesday.

Worcester State will have a bye in the MASCAC tourney after finishing second with an 11-3 record and is 13-12 overall.