Men's Basketball Holds Off UMass Dartmouth, 81-78

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Senior forward Kyle Gibson (Franklin, Mass.) scored a team-high 20 points to lead the Bridgewater State University men's basketball team to an 81-78 non-conference victory over visiting UMass Dartmouth on Thursday night at the Tinsley Center.

The Bears even their season record at 3-3 with the win, while the Corsairs drop to 4-4.

Gibson connected on 8 of 16 field goal attempts and went 4-for-4 at the free throw line. He also added four rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

BSU senior center Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.) added 17 points on 5 of 7 shooting to go along five rebounds and two steals, while junior guard Tyler DeMelo (East Freetown, Mass.) tallied 16 points, three rebounds and a pair of steals.  Senior guard Justin Clark (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) rounded out the Bears' double-digit point producers as he chipped in ten points to go along with four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Junior guard Jordan Rezendes (Onset, Mass.) paced the visiting Corsairs with a game-high 29 points including 26 in the second half alone.  Rezendes was 11-for-20 from the floor and 6-for-7 at the charity stripe.  He also grabbed a game-high ten rebounds to finish with a double-double and added six assists and five steals.

Four other Corsairs finished in double-figure scoring as senior guard John Castillo (Lynn, Mass.) and junior center Wale Abraham (Lynn, Mass.) each tallied 11 points, while senior guard John Genkos (Worcester, Mass.) and sophomore guard Jon Robinson (Chatham, Mass.) notched ten points apiece.  Abraham also pulled down six rebounds and blocked four shots, while Castillo recorded three steals. 

Bridgewater used a 11-2 run midway through the first half to take a 21-16 lead with 8:40 remaining.  Gibson, who scored 13 points in the stanza, capped off the run with a driving layup.  The Bears would maintain the lead throughout the remainder of the period and took a 32-29 advantage into halftime.

Bridgewater opened up a 13-point lead (45-32) in the second half thanks to an early 13-2 run.  The spurt was capped off by a five-point possession consisting of a Lofton three-point play and a pair of technical foul free throws by Gibson.

The Corsairs answered with 13 straight points, highlighted by four consecutive layups by Rezendes, to knot the score at 45-45.

The Bears, however, would score the next seven on a Gibson three-point play and four straight points by Lofton to jump ahead 52-45 with 13:18 remaining.  The Corsairs would rally to cut the deficit to one, 57-56, on an Alex Rodriguez (Fall River, Mass.) layup at the 8:24 mark.

Bridgewater seemed to take control of the game for good over the next five minutes outscoring UMass, 16-4, to grab a 13-point lead (73-60) as the clock ticked down towards three minutes.  BSU freshman guard Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) jumpstarted the run with a three-point play while DeMelo highlighted it with an emphatic breakaway dunk.

The Corsairs, however, would not go away thanks to Rezendes and Robinson who combined to score 16 points in the final three-plus minutes.  A Rezendes three-point play with just 11 seconds remaining cut the deficit to 80-78.

UMass fouled immediately and Lofton made 1 of 2 free throws to push the lead back up to three, 81-78, with nine second left on the clock.  A long three-point attempt by Rezendes at the buzzer was off the mark and the Bears held on for the win.

Bridgewater shot 51% (29-57) for the game including 6-for-12 (50%) from behind the arc.  The Bears also converted 17 of 23 (74%) free throw attempts, but missed three in the last minute and a half which almost came back to haunt them.

The Corsairs shot 46% (28-61) from the floor and 83% (19-23) at the charity stripe but were just 3-for-18 (17%) from three-point range. UMass also held a 37-28 rebounding advantage with a 12-5 edge on the offensive glass.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday afternoon.  The Bears travel to Wheaton College to take on the Lyons at one while the Corsairs head to Plymouth State University for a three o'clock Little East Conference game with the Panthers.