Men's Basketball Falls to Eastern Nazarene in Cave Classic Semifinal

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team posted a 74-63 victory over host Bridgewater State University in the semifinal round of the 2021 BSU Cave Classic on Friday evening at the Tinsley Center.

The Lyons improve to 3-3 on the season, while the Bears fall to 0-5. Eastern Nazarene will take on Middlebury College in the tournament championship game on Saturday afternoon at two o'clock. Bridgewater State will face Anna Maria College in the consolation game on Saturday at noon. Middlebury defeated Anna Maria in double overtime in the other semifinal matchup, 99-96.

Sophomore forward Bernie McGuinness (Cumming, Ga.) paced Eastern Nazarene with a team-high 18 points to go along with eight rebounds. Junior guard Nick Manso (Brick, N.J.) added 16 points, five rebounds and pair of steals for the Lions, while junior forward junior forward Levi Grady-White (Springfield, Mass.) checked in with 15 points, a game-high nine rebounds and two blocked shots.

Freshman center Camden Dunbury (Pocasset, Mass.) scored a game-high 21 points on 8 of 13 shooting for the host Bears before fouling out late in the game. Dunbury also finished with eight rebounds (four offensive) and three blocks. Graduate guard Jordan Wetterlind (Twig, Minn.) added 13 points, six rebounds and six assists for Bridgewater State, while senior guard David Laine (Bourne, Mass.) contributed ten points, four boards and four assists.

Trailing 21-18 with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half , the Lyons closed out the period with a 16-2 run to take a 34-23 lead into the intermission. Grady-White paced the visitors with ten points over the first 20 minutes, while Wetterlind led the Bears with nine.

The Lyons carried the momentum into the second half and got up by as many as 20 points (47-27) following a McGuinness layup with 14:43 remaining in the period. Bridgewater State, however, would not go down quietly as the Bears chipped away at the deficit. Down by 16 (63-47) with under nine minutes left to play, the hosts ripped off a 11-0 run, highlighted by seven points from Dunbury, to close the gap to 63-58 with four minutes remaining in the contest. The Bears, however, would miss four straight shots as well as three straight free throws over the next 2 ½ minutes as the comeback fell short. The Lions went 6-for-10 from the line down the stretch to secure the 74-63 victory.

Eastern Nazarene shot 40% (26-65) from the floor, 36% (8-22) from behind the arc and 67% (14-21) at the free throw line. The Lions held a 50-41 rebounding advantage including a 16-13 edge on the offensive glass which led to a 22-8 differential in second chance points.

The Bears connected on 38% (26-69) of their field goal attempts and went just 2-for-18 (11%) from three-point range and 9-for-15 (60%) at the charity stripe.