Men's Basketball Falls to Brockport in Triple Overtime, 100-95

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team dropped a 100-95 decision in triple overtime to the College at Brockport on Monday at the Land of Magic Classic in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Golden Eagles improve to 5-1 on the year with the win, while the Bears fall to 3-6.

Rocky DeAndrade paced BSU with a career-high 28 points to go along with four rebounds. Joseph Carty posted a double-double with 20 points and a career-best 20 rebounds. Fawaz Mass added 18 points and eight boards, while Greg Romanko checked in with 12 points including a pair of clutch three-pointers.

Bridgewater State used runs of 10-0 and 10-2 in the first half to open up a 36-28 lead at the intermission. Carty scored 11 points in the opening stanza, while Mass tallied ten.

The Bears scored the first seven points of the second half to extend their advantage to 15 (43-28).  Layups by DeAndrade and Michael Soares followed by three free throws from Mass at the 17:57 mark accounted for the seven points.

The Brockport offense got things going with a 12-2 run to cut the Bears lead to five with 14:22 left in regulation. The offense kept rolling, thanks in large part to Hamed Shamseldin who netted 16 straight Brockport points, as the Golden Eagles reclaimed the lead, 56-53, with 10:24 to play.

The offensive production continued for the Green and Gold, as they reached their largest lead at the 3:17 mark after a Clifton Lyerly jumper gave Brockport a 74-63 lift.

The Bears answered with a 10-0 run over the next three minutes, highlighted by eight points from DeAndrade including a pair of three-pointers, to make it a one-point game (74-73).

With 16 seconds to play, Levi Pace worked for a tip-in, giving Brockport a three-point lead, 76-73. With two seconds remaining, Romanko buried the first of his two clutch trifectas to tie the game up and force overtime.

The first overtime period was a low scoring affair, with a Pace lay-in in the opening 30 seconds the only field goal of the period. A pair of free throws by DeAndrade marked the only points for the Bears, as the two teams headed to a second overtime with the score knotted at 78-78.

The second overtime session saw four ties and a pair of lead changes. A pair of free throws from Shamseldin with 19 seconds remaining and 1 of 2 by Ismael Pierre with just nine seconds showing on the scoreboard gave the Golden Eagles a 90-87 lead. Lightning, however, would strike twice for Romanko and the Bears as his last second three-pointer found its way home again, forcing a third overtime.

Brockport never trailed in the final overtime period. An Olusola Adeniran layup on the opening possession gave the Golden Eagles a 92-90 lead. The Green and Gold would go 8-for-12 from the free throw line the rest of the way to secure the 100-95 win.

Shamseldin led all scorers with a career-high 31 points. Lyerly finished with 20 points, six rebounds and three assists. Pace and Pierre added 14 and 13 points, respectively, with Pierre one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards. Adeniran grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with seven points.

Brockport notched 56 points in the paint, and turned in 26 points off 22 forced turnovers. The Green and Gold squad shot 42% (37-88) from the floor, with a 35.7 percentage (5-14) from three-point range.

The Bears shot just 38.6% (27-70) from the floor, but connected on 85.4% (35-41) of their free throw attempts. Bridgewater also went 6-for-15 (40%) from behind the arc.

The Bears will be back in action on Wednesday, December 30th against John Carroll University at 1 p.m. in the Land of Magic Classic.