Men's Basketball Downs Worcester State, 78-65, Behind Murphy's 19 Points

WORCESTER, Mass. – Sophomore guard Barrett Murphy (Marshfield, Mass) scored a career-high 19 points off the bench to lead the visiting Bridgewater State University men's basketball team to a 78-65 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) victory over Worcester State University on Saturday afternoon.

Winners of five straight games and nine of their last 11, the Bears improve to 10-7 on the season and remain unbeaten in MASCAC play with a 4-0 conference mark.  The host Lancers slip to 3-12 overall and 0-3 in the MASCAC.

Murphy connected on 7 of 9 field goal attempts including 4-for-6 from behind the arc in 26 minutes of action.

BSU junior forward Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.) filled the stat sheet with 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists, a block and four steals.  Senior guard Brendan Monteiro (Brockton, Mass.) added 14 points, while junior forward Kyle Gibson (Franklin, Mass.) chipped in with 13 points and five boards.

Senior forward Dane Jobst (Athol, Mass.) posted a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds to pace the Lancers.  Junior guard Brendan Rios (Easthampton, Mass.) tallied 18 points, five boards and two steals, while classmate Charles Gunter (Boston, Mass.) came off the bench to score 12 points on 6 of 9 shooting.

The Bears used a 9-0 run on the strength of back-to-back-to-back three-pointers from Monteiro and Murphy to take a 21-9 lead.  Later in the period, the Lancers answered with a 13-0 run capped off by a Jeremy Bacon (Milford, Mass.) layup to jump ahead, 26-25, with 4:28 remaining.

The teams would trade leads until the Bears closed out the half with six straight points on a pair of Murphy jumpers and a Gibson layup to head to the locker-room with a 36-31 advantage.

Rios would tie the game up at 41-41 with 15:59 left to play in the second half.  The Bears, however, would respond with a 15-2 run over the next three minutes to open up a 13-point lead (56-43).  Murphy and Gibson each scored five points during the run.

Worcester answered with a 9-1 run over the next five minutes to make it a five-point game (57-52).  Later in the stanza, a Gunter layup pulled the Lancers to within four (63-59) with 4:56 left to play.

Bridgewater dominated play the rest of the way using a 15-2 run to put the game out of reach.  Junior guard Justin Clark (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) scored six of the 15 points and capped off the run with a pair of free throws to give the Bears their largest lead of the game, 78-61.

The Bears shot 49% (28-57) from the floor, including 9-for-22 (41%) from behind the arc, and forced 18.  Bridgewater held a 26-13 advantage in points off turnovers.

Worcester shot 48% (30-62) from the floor but went 0-for-8 from three-point range and 5-for-12 (42%) at the free throw line.  The Lancers outrebounded the Bears by a decided margin of 42-23, including a 16-4 edge on the offensive glass which led to an 18-5 advantage in second chance points.  The hosts also outscored the visitors, 54-30, in the paint.

The MASCAC schedule resumes for both teams on Tuesday evening.  The Bears entertain Fitchburg State University at 7:30 while the Lancers travel to Westfield State University to take on the Owls also at 7:30.

Notes: With his 14 points, Monteiro increased his career total to 962. He has 473 points in two seasons at BSU and tallied 489 points in two seasons at Wentworth (2008-2010).