Men's Basketball Knocks Off Aurora University, 88-78

Box Score

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Senior center Roland Millien (Stoughton, MA) posted his fifth double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bridgewater State College men's basketball team to a 88-78 victory over Aurora University in opening round action of the 2008 Cactus Jam held at Phoenix College.

The Bears (6-2) will take on Wisconsin-Superior on Monday at 4:30 (EST) in tournament semifinal action.  Wisconsin defeated Transylvania University (Kentucky), 81-64, in their first round game.

Bridgewater took a 55-38 lead into halftime thanks to outstanding first half shooting.  The Bears connected on 20 of 32 field goal attempts in the opening stanza including 6-for-12 from beyond the arc. BSC also shot 90% (9-for-10) from the free throw line and closed out the half with a 12-4 run over the last 2:15.

In the second half, Bridgewater State built the lead up to 19 points on two occasions including a 61-42 advantage with 15:18 to play.  Over the next five minutes however, Aurora outscored the Bears by a margin of 20-6 to pull to within five points (67-62) with just over ten minutes remaining in the game.

That would be as close as the Spartans would get as BSC built their lead up to ten points on three separate occasions over the last minute and a half including the final score of 88-78.

Millien connected on 6 of 10 field goal attempts and finished 7-for-9 from the free throw line.  Junior guard Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA) chipped in with 16 points as he went 4-for-6 from the floor and 8-for-10 from the charity stripe.