Men's Basketball Falls to MIT in Season-Opener

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University men's basketball team dropped a 69-57 decision to MIT on Tuesday night at the Tinsley Center. The game marked the season-opener for both teams.

Sophomore guard Bradley Jomard (Paris, France) paced the visitors with 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists, while senior forward Tim Butala (Monroe, Conn.) and sophomore guard Dakota Pierce (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) added 11 points apiece. Sophomore forward Samuel Bockman (Oceanside, Calif.) contributed ten points on 5 of 5 shooting to go along with six rebounds.

Senior guard Fawaz Mass (Taunton, Mass.) led the way for Bridgewater State with 23 points. Junior forward Joseph Carty (Natick, Mass.) checked in with 12 points, while senior guard Keyon Armstrong (Brockton, Mass.) tallied 11 points.

The Engineers used a 13-1 run during a seven-minute stretch early in the first half to jump out in front, 13-3. Up 17-10 later in the stanza, MIT scored 16 straight points to take a commanding 33-10 lead with three minutes remaining in the period. The visitors would ultimately take a 37-17 advantage into the locker room.

Jomard scored 13 of his game-high 24 points over the opening 20 minutes. The Engineers shot a very efficient 63% (15-24) in the first half.

Mass paced the Bears with ten first-half points. Bridgewater connected on just 24% of its field goal attempts in the opening stanza including 0-for-7 from behind the arc.

The Bears outscored the Engineers by a margin of 13-5 over the first 6 ½ minutes of the second half to make it a 12-point game (42-30). Moments later, Bridgewater had a chance to pull to within ten but missed both ends of a two shot foul. MIT answered on the other end of the floor with a Pierce layup off an offensive rebound.

The layup jumpstarted an 11-2 run as the Engineers extended their advantage to 56-35 with 7:32 left to play.

Seven unanswered points by Armstrong, including a three-pointer, followed by a pair of free throws by Carty pulled the Bears to within 56-44 with 4:50 remaining. After the teams exchanged free throws, Mass knocked down an off-balance three-pointer to make it a nine-point game (57-48). The Bears forced a shot clock violation and junior guard Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) responded with a trifecta to cut the deficit to six (57-51) with 2:44 remaining.

MIT made 1 of 2 free throws at the other end of the floor and then, after a stop, Jomard drained a dagger three-pointer to push the MIT lead back up to ten (61-51) with just over two minutes showing on the scoreboard. The Bears would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way as MIT held on for the 69-57 victory.

The Engineers shot 51% (23-45) for the game and converted 18 of 23 (78%) free throw attempts. After struggling from the floor in the first half, the Bears connected on 50% (12-24) of their field goal attempts over the final 20 minutes. Bridgewater went 16-for-25 (64%) on the night from the charity stripe.

In upcoming action, the Bears (0-1) entertain Becker College in the semifinals of The Cave Classic on Friday evening at 5:30. The Engineers (1-0) travel to Eastern Nazarene College on Saturday afternoon for a three o'clock game with the Lions.