Men's Basketball Falls to Westfield State, 78-69, in MASCAC Title Game

WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Despite a game-high 33 points from MASCAC Player of the Year Michael Lofton (Mansfield, Mass.), #2 seed Bridgewater State University dropped a 78-69 decision to top-seeded Westfield State University in the championship game of the 2015 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Men's Basketball Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

Tournament MVP Grant Cooper paced host Westfield State (20-6) with 22 points and 14 rebounds. The Owls have now won 15 of their last 16 games and reached the 20 win plateau for the third time in program history.

Westfield led 39-30 at the half behind 12 points and nine rebounds from Cooper and 10 points from Andre King.  

With the score tied 15-all, Westfield used a 20-8 spurt through the middle stages of the first half to build a lead as big as 12 points, 35-23, when Cooper picked up a rebound, out-letting the ball to King, who found Robbie Jones streaking to the hoop for an easy layup with 4:09 left. The Owls would take a 39-30 lead into the break.

Westfield extended its lead to 17 points (71-54) late in the second half.  Bridgewater, however, closed with a flurry.  An 11-1 run capped off by a Lofton lay-up cut the deficit to seven, 72-65, with just 40 seconds remaining.  Shane Pasquantonio responded with a layu-up to put an end to the rally as Westfield would hang on for the 78-69 victory.

King helped lift the Owls with 19 points and three assists, while Jones added 12.  The Owls got a huge lift off the bench Pasquantonio who scored 11 points on five of six shooting and played clutch minutes with Cooper battling foul trouble in the second half.

With today's win, the Owls avenged their only loss in that stretch, and in conference play, having fallen at Bridgewater in overtime back on February 3. The Owls secured the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid, with details on any NCAA games officially announced on Monday. Westfield also reached the NCAA tournament in both 1985 and 1993.

Bridgewater State finishes the season with an overall mark of 18-8.  Along with his career-high equaling 33 points, Lofton also notched nine rebounds, two assists, three blocked shots and a pair of steals.

Lofton also moved into sixth place on the Bears' all-time scoring list as he wrapped up his career with 1,504 points.  He is the first Bear to reach the 1,500-point milestone since all-time leading scorer Mark Goncalves (1,907 pts.) accomplished the feat in 1999.

Kyle Gibson (Franklin, Mass.) added 13 points and six rebounds for the Bears, while Fawaz Mass (Taunton, Mass.) chipped in with ten points, five boards and two blocked shots in 21 minutes off the bench.

Bridgewater State shot 39% (27-70) for the game and converted just 1 of 17 (6%) three-point attempts.  The Bears did force 18 turnovers which led to a 22-11 advantage in points off turnovers.  However, free throw shooting was also an issue as the visitors went just 14-for-23 (61%) from the charity stripe.