By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team will open the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament in the same spot as a year ago.
Once again the No. 5 seed, the Bears will play a quarterfinal-round game against the same opponent, traveling to the fourth-seeded Framingham State University.
The teams will meet on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Logan Gymnasium. The game was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was changed due to the snowstorm.
BSU (8-17) went 6-8 in the conference to finish a game behind the Rams (14-11, 7-7 MASCAC). A year ago, host Framingham State ousted the Bears from the tournament, 63-60.
Two of the Bears' conference wins came over the Rams as they swept the season series, 101-98, on the road Jan. 24 and 74-69 on Senior Night at home last Wednesday.
BSU started this season 1-8, won four of six games and has lost seven of its past 10 games.
Now, the Bears are hoping for a fresh start in the postseason.
"That's what we've been trying to preach to them," said coach Matt McLaughlin. "It's 0-0 now and you've got to win three games this week. It's the 'Why not us mentality?'
"We know we can do it, but we've got to put together the 40 minutes."
BSU's leading scorer in the 2024-25 season, junior Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.), has been limited to 14 games due to an ankle injury. He sat out the opening seven games after being hurt in practice in November, then played a total of 25 minutes in the final five regular-season games.
Campbell ranks second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.6 points in 14 games, while junior Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.) is first with 16.2 points to go with six rebounds.
Senior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) contributes 12.9 points, 5.4 assists, 4.5 rebounds and two steals per game.
Kikuba enters the tournament ranked first in career assists at BSU with 568 and is tied for second with Nicholas Motta with 242 steals, five behind Bruce Higgins. Kikuba is 14th with
1,419 points in his four years.
Also averaging double figures are senior Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.), who scores 12.2 points and leads the team with 7.2 rebounds, while junior Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) scores 11.1 points.
The Bears, an undersized team, will be facing a Framingham State front line that includes 6-foot-7 junior Fallou Koite (Glendale, Md.), 6-foot-6 senior Vondre Chase (Watertown, Mass.) and 6-foot-5 junior Joshua Saint Jean (Lynn, Mass.).
Saint Jean is third in the MASCAC, averaging 9.1 rebounds to go with 13.1 points. Chase had 17 rebounds against BSU last week and averages 10.5 points and 6.7 rebounds.
"They're just so big," said McLaughlin. "It's going to take everything and everybody's best effort. Can we keep St. Jean off the boards and accumulate enough stops to turn them into an advantage. The biggest thing is converting and capitalizing."
Despite that disadvantage up front, the Bears managed to win a pair of close games against the Rams.
"Lou is playing extremely hard and giving us everything he has," said McLaughlin of his top rebounder. "Jacob Stull (Norwell, Mass.) really stepped up the last couple of weeks and helped us in the paint. The collective group of guards boxing out and been a key.
"It's going to take physicality and toughness in addition to decision making. That's where sometimes we trail off and have unforced turnovers right where we are at an advantage after
getting a stop."
BSU was just a couple of shots away from finishing above .500 in the MASCAC.
The Bears lost back-to-back games against Fitchburg State and Salem State by a combined three points with chances to win at the end.
"This is definitely not the year you ever imagine as players and coaches," said McLaughlin. "This was not the vision, but I think the guys have done a good job of showing up every day.
"We stress the importance of the adversity we're in and how we've got to keep showing up. Regardless of the circumstance, that is what we've got to do."
Defending champion and top-seeded Westfield State and Worcester State have opening-round byes. The other quarterfinal-round game has third-seeded Salem State hosting the sixth-seeded Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.