Men's Basketball Downs Wheaton, 97-87, Behind Okoh's 33 Points

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Senior guard Precious Okoh (Brockton, Mass.) scored a season-high 33 points to lead the undefeated Bridgewater State University men's basketball team to a 97-87 victory over visiting Wheaton College on Thursday night at the Tinsley Center.

The Bears improve to 9-0 on the season as they continue to add on to the program record for most wins to start a season. The Lyons fall to 4-5 with setback. Bridgewater has won each of the last three meetings of the two teams and eight of the last 12. Wheaton holds a slight 14-13 edge in the all-time series which dates back to the 1994-1995 season.

Okoh connected on 11 of 20 field goal attempts, including 3-for-6 from behind the arc, and went 8-for-10 at the free throw line. He also added six rebounds (three offensive), five assists and a pair of steals.

BSU graduate center Emerson Halbleib (Carmel, Ind.) posted his team-leading fifth double-double of the season with 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds (three offensive) to go along with a game-best four blocked shots. Halbleib was 6-for-10 from the floor and a perfect 4-for-4 at the charity stripe.

The Bears also received 12 points, two assists and two steals from freshman guard Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.), ten points and pair of boards from sophomore guard Quinton Champagne (Wrentham, Mass.), and 12 points three rebounds and two assists in 21 minutes off the bench from junior guard Justin Parsons (Portsmouth, R.I.).

Senior forward Aaron Williams (Springfield, Mass.) paced visiting Wheaton with 31 points, seven rebounds (three offensive), three assists and five steals. Senior guard Alex Carlisle (Saint Johnsbury, Vt.) checked in with 19 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Lyons while senior guard Evan Cook (Dunstable, Mass.) contributed 16 points, three rebounds and a pair of assists.

The first half featured five ties and two lead changes with Wheaton leading by as many as 13 points (22-9). The Bears chipped away and used a 7-0 run late in the period to turn a 47-43 Wheaton advantage into a 50-47 BSU lead. The two teams would ultimately head into the break with the score knotted at 52-52.

Okoh led the Bears first-half comeback with 18 points over the first 20 minutes, while Champagne and Parsons tallied ten points apiece. Williams paced the Lyons with 15 points in the opening stanza with Carlisle and Cook adding ten apiece.

There were three ties and four lead changes in the second half with neither team leading by more than five points until the clock ticked under seven minutes. With the score knotted at 74-74, a pair of free throws by Halbleib put the Bears on top for good with 7:42 left to play. Clinging to a one-point lead (80-79) with just over four minutes remaining, Bridgewater took control of the game with a 9-0 run to make it a ten-point game (89-79) as the clock ticked under two minutes. Four different players scored during the spurt including a clutch three-pointer by Kikuba. The Lyons got as close as four points (91-87) the rest of the way, but the Bears went 6-for-6 at the free throw line over the final 68 seconds to secure the win.

Bridgewater shot 51.6% (33-64) for the game. The Bears finished 10-for-24 (41.7%) from behind the arc and 21-for-27 (77.8%) at the free throw line.

After Wheaton shot 50% (21-42) in the first half, the BSU defense limited the Lyons to just 29.5% (13-44) shooting over the final 20 minutes. The visitors connected on just 7 of 31 three-points attempts (22.6%) on the evening and went 12-for-16 (75%) at the stripe.

The Lyons came up short in the contest despite winning the turnover battle (BSU 22, Wheaton 14) and holding the edge in points in the paint (48-38), points off turnovers (24-11) and second chance points (19-11). The BSU bench outscored the Wheaton reserves, 25-12.

The Bears entertain Wesleyan University on Saturday at noon. The Lyons are off until Friday, December 30th when they travel to Colby-Sawyer College for a three o'clock game with the Chargers.