Men's Basketball Falls to Becker, 82-72

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Junior forward Mateus Ribeiro (Sao Paulo, Brazil) scored 23 points to lead the visiting Becker College men's basketball team to an 82-72 victory over Bridgewater State University on Tuesday night at the Tinsley Center.

Becker improves to 6-5 on the season with the win, while Bridgewater State falls to 2-7. The Hawks snapped a three-game losing streak against the Bears.

Ribeiro connected on 10 of 20 field goal attempts and notched nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. Sophomore guard Jordan Rose-Wheatley (New Bedford, Mass.) added 15 points, five board and three steals for the Hawks, while freshman forward Terrance Edwards (New Haven, Conn.) contributed 12 points and four rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.

Senior guard Ryan Carney (Easton, Mass.) paced Bridgewater State with a game-high 26 points to go along with three rebounds and three assists. Senior forwards Dimitri St. Louis (Brockton, Mass.) and Rayshon Ward (Fayetteville, N.C.) each posted double-doubles for the Bears. St. Louis filled the stat sheet with 16 points, ten rebounds (seven offensive), three steals and four blocked shots, while Ward tallied 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Alan Pettway (Worcester, Mass.) checked in with 11 points and three assists.

Bridgewater trailed 26-16 with under seven minutes left to play in the first half. The Bears used an 8-2 run to close the gap to four, 28-24, with 3 ½ minutes remaining in the stanza. The Hawks, however, responded with eight straight points, including four apiece from Ribeiro and Edwards, to go back up by double digits (36-24). Becker would ultimately take a 40-30 lead into the break.

Ribeiro scored 13 points in the first half to pace the Hawks while Edwards added ten off the bench. Carney led the Bears with 16 points over the first 20 minutes.

Becker shot 46% (17-37) from the floor in the first half, while Bridgewater State connected on just 29% (10-34) of its field goal attempts. The Bears did convert 3 of 8 three-point attempts and went 7-for-9 at the free throw line in the opening stanza.

The Bears opened the second half with a 12-4 spurt to cut the deficit to two, 44-42. Back-to-back three-pointers by Carney and Pettway capped off the run. Bridgewater still trailed by two, 48-46, following a St. Louis layup with 15:48 remaining. The Hawks then responded with a 10-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers from Chester and junior forward Guney Kilitcioglu (Istanbul, Turkey), to  push the lead once again up to double digits, 58-46, with 13:35 showing on the scoreboard.

Becker went scoreless for over five minutes, but the Bears could not fully capitalize on the Hawks' scoring drought. Buckets by Ward, Carney and Monteiro Jr. cut the deficit to 58-52 as the clock ticked under nine minutes. The Hawks regained their rhythm and ripped off nine straight points, highlighted by a Chester trifecta, to take their biggest lead of the game, 67-52, with 6:38 left to play.

An 11-2 BSU run, highlighted by a thundering Monteiro Jr. dunk and Pettway three-pointer, closed the gap to six (69-63) with 4:40 remaining . After the teams exchanged baskets, the Bears came up with a big stop and Ward knocked down a turnaround jumper to make it a four-point game (71-67) with under three minutes left to play.

Bridgewater had three opportunities to make it a one possession game, but missed two shots and turned the ball over. The Hawks went 9-for-10 at the free throw line in the final 62 seconds to secure the 82-72 victory.

Becker shot 50% (30-60) for the game and finished 18-for-22 (82%) at the free throw line. The Bears connected on 40% (27-68) of their field goals attempts and went 6-for-17 (35%) from behind the arc and 12-for-16 (75%) at the charity stripe.

The Hawks bench outscored the BSU reserves, 18-0, led by 12 points from Edwards.

The Bears travel to MIT on Thursday evening for a seven o'clock game with the Engineers. The Hawks host the Mariners of Maine Maritime Academy on Saturday afternoon at one.

Notes: Carney (1,222 pts.) moved into 17th place on the Bears' all-time scoring list, while Ward (1,133 pts.) moved into the 25th spot....Ward's double-double marked his team-leading fifth of the season and 27th of his career....St. Louis recorded his fourth double-double of the 2019-2020 campaign....Carney has scored at least 20 points in each of the last six games..