Lofton, Gibson Lead Men's Hoops to 84-77 Overtime Win over #15 MIT

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Senior forward Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.) posted a double-double with 23 points and ten rebounds, and classmate Kyle Gibson (Franklin, Mass.) poured in a game-high 26 points to lead the Bridgewater State University men's basketball team to an 84-77 overtime victory over #15 ranked MIT on Saturday afternoon at the Tinsley Center.

The host Bears improve to 5-3 with their third straight win, while the Engineers slip to 7-3. MIT was ranked 15th in the most recent D3hoops.com Poll. 

Lofton, who finished 6-for-10 from the floor and 11-for-14 from the free throw line, also added four assists, three steals and a blocked shot as he became the Bears' all-time leader in blocks with 134.

Gibson was lights-out with his shooting as he connected on 9 of 12 field goal attempts including a pair of three-pointers. He also contributed four rebounds, two blocks and a pair of steals.

BSU freshman guard Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) came off the bench to score 11 points.

Junior guard Ryan Frankel (New York, N.Y.), sophomore forward Tim Butala (Monroe, Conn.) and senior forward Dennis Levene (Weston, Conn.) each finished with 20 points or more for the Engineers.  Frankel paced the visitors with 22 points and eight assists.  Butala added 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Levene finished with 20 points and five boards.

The Bears held a 35-31 lead at the half as they closed out the opening stanza with a 13-4 run.  Freshman guard Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) sparked the run with eight of his 11 points including a pair of three-pointers.

Butala led all scorers with ten first-half points, while Lofton and DeAndrade paced the Bears with eight points apiece over the first 20 minutes.

The second half was close throughout.  Trailing 57-55 as the clock ticked down to six minutes, a Gibson three-pointer and follow-up layup put the Bears back on top, 60-57.

Nursing a one-point lead later in the stanza, a driving layup by senior guard Justin Clark (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) followed by a Lofton breakaway dunk, staked the Bears to a 66-61 advantage with just over two minutes remaining.

Levene responded for the Engineers with an uncontested layup to cut the deficit to 66-63.  Following a BSU missed open layup, the Engineers had a chance to tie or at least pull within one, but turned the ball over. Lofton drained a pair of free throws at the other end of the floor to increase the BSU lead to 68-63 with 37 seconds left to play.

Sandwiched around a DeAndrade free throw, Frankel connected on a pair of free throws and drove to the hoop for a quick bucket to make it a 69-67 game with 20 seconds remaining.  Gibson knocked down a pair of shots from the line for the Bears, but Butala drained a three-pointer to pull the Engineers to within one, 71-70, with 11 seconds left in regulation.

Lofton was fouled immediately and promptly connected on both of his free throws to make it a three-point game.  Butala, however, provided the late heroics for the Engineers as he connected on the game-tying three with just 1.4 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

The overtime session, however, belonged to Bridgewater State.  The Bears held the Engineers to just two points over the first four minutes of the extra session and four overall.  Lofton and Clark tallied four points apiece in overtime with Clark knocking down a huge three-pointer with 2:14 remaining to give BSU an 80-75 lead.  The Bears would go 4-for-6 from the charity stripe in the final minute to secure the win.

Bridgewater held a decided advantage at the free throw line as the Bears made 35 trips (26-35) to the stripe compared to just ten attempts (6-10) for the Engineers.

MIT held a 42-34 rebounding advantage including a 14-5 edge on the offensive glass.  The Engineers also outscored the Bears 44-30 in the paint, while the BSU bench outscored the MIT reserves, 25-7 led by DeAndrade's 11 points.

The Bears shot 49% (26-53) from the floor including 6-for-11 (55%) from behind the arc, and turned the ball over just eight times.  The Engineers, who attempted 19 more shot, connected on 44% (32-72) of their field goal attempts and went 7-for-22 (32%) from three-point range.

Both teams are off until after the New Year.  The Bears will compete at the NYU Holiday Classic to take on Manhattanville College on Friday, January 2nd (4:00 PM) and host New York University on Saturday, January 3rd (2:00 PM).  The Engineers open New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Wednesday, January 7th (7:00 PM) at Clark University.

Notes: With his 23 points, Lofton moved past Rich Brennan (1,129 pts.) into 22nd place on the Bears' all-time scoring list.  Lofton now has 1,141 points in four seasons at Bridgewater State.