Men's Basketball Falls to UMass Dartmouth, 95-74

DARTMOUTH, Mass. -- The visiting Bridgewater State University men's basketball team dropped a 95-74 decision to UMass Dartmouth on Thursday night at the Tripp Athletic Center.

The host Corsairs improve to 4-1 on the season with the win, while the Bears fall to 4-3.

UMass used a 9-0 run late in the first half to take a 48-30 lead. The Corsairs would take a 48-35 advantage into the break.

Bridgewater pulled to within 11 after scoring the opening basket of the second half. That, however, would be as close as the Bears would get as the Corsairs got up by as many as 26 points (78-52) in the final stanza before settling for the 95-74 victory.

Freshman guard Jake Ashworth (Fairhaven, Mass.) scored a game-high 25 points on 9 of 14 shooting including 5-for-8 from behind the arc to lead the way for UMass. Ashworth also grabbed six rebounds and dished out a pair of assists. Junior forward Arinze Obiora (Lagos, Nigeria) posted a double-double with 21 points and a game-best 13 rebounds. Obiora connected on 10 of 17 field goal attempts and six of his 13 boards came off the offensive glass. He also added four assists, three steals and a blocked shot. Senior forward Joshua Imadiyi (Lynn, Mass.) rounded out the Corsairs' double-digit scorers. Imadiyi finished with 17 points to go along with four rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks.

Senior Joseph Carty (Natick, Mass.) notched his second double-double of the season for the Bears as he tallied a team-best 19 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore forward Rayshon Ward (Plymouth, Mass.) scored 18 points on 8 of 13 shooting to go along with six boards, while sophomore guard Ryan Carney (Easton, Mass.) tallied 18 points, four assists and two steals.

UMass shot 53% (37-70) for the game including 11-for-21 (52%) from three-point range. The Corsairs also knocked down 10 of 11 (91%) free throw attempts.

The Bears connected on 46% (28-61) of their field goal attempts and converted just 14 of 26 (54%) at the line. Bridgewater also turned the ball over 18 times.

The Corsairs finished with the edge in points off turnovers (17-11), points in the paint (45-40), second chance points (14-12) and bench scoring (18-9).

Both teams are back in action on Saturday afternoon. The Bears entertain Dean College on Saturday afternoon at one, while the Corsairs travel to Plymouth State University for a three o'clock game with the Panthers.