Halbleib Leads Men's Basketball to 85-67 MASCAC Win Over Salem State

SALEM, Mass. – Graduate center Emerson Halbleib (Carmel, Ind.) posted a double-double with 19 points and ten rebounds and added seven blocked shots, four assists and a pair of steals to lead the visiting Bridgewater State University men's basketball team to an 85-67 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) victory over Salem State University on Wednesday evening at Twohig Gymnasium.

The Bears improve to 16-5 on the season and 6-2 in the MASCAC with their fifth straight win, while the Vikings fall to 6-15 overall and 3-5 in conference place. Bridgewater swept the regular season series with the Vikings for just the sixth time in program history.

Halbleib connected on 8 of 10 field goal attempts and four of his ten rebounds came off the offensive glass. The seven blocked shots marked a season high.

Freshman guard Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) added 15 points, six rebounds, a game-best seven assists and two steals for the Bears, while junior forward Peyton Priest (Papillion, Neb.) notched 14 points and three boards in 21 minutes off the bench. Priest connected on 4 of 10 three-point attempts. BSU graduate forward Jordan Wetterlind (Twig, Minn.) also came off the pine to register ten points, five rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes of action.

Senior forward Conner Byrne (Melrose, Mass.) recorded a double-double with 18 points and a game-high 15 rebounds (eight offensive) to lead the way for Salem State. Senior guard Chris MacDonald (Wakefield, Mass.) checked in with 17 points, three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals, while senior guard Jaden Castillo (Lawrence, Mass.) tallied 13 points, two assists and four steals.

The Bears used a 12-2, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers by Priest to open up a 33-21 lead with 11 minutes to go in the first half. Later in the period, a Priest trifecta gave the visitors their biggest lead of the stanza, 40-26, with nine minutes remaining. The Vikings answered with an 11-2 spurt with Castillo and Bryne combining for all 11 points to cut the deficit to five (42-37). Salem, however, managed to score just one point over the final three minutes of the half. Despite committing eight turnovers over the final nine minutes of the first half, the Bears managed to take a 48-38 lead at the break. The visitors closed out the period with a 6-1 run capped off by a buzzer-beating jumper by Wetterlind.

The Bears shot 52.8% (19-36) in the first half, including 6-for-15 (40%) from behind the arc, and held the Vikings to just 37.5% (15-40) shooting with a 5-for-20 (25%) from three-point range.

The Vikings got as close as seven points (60-53) following a Byrne free throw with 13:47 left to play in the second half. However, a 10-3 BSU run (with five different players scoring) over the next seven minutes pushed the lead back up to 14 points (70-56) and the Bears would maintain the double-digit advantage the rest of the way. Bridgewater got up by as many as 22 points in the stanza.

Bridgewater shot 47.9% (34-71) for the game, 36.4% (8-22) from three-point range and 64.3% (9-14) at the free throw line. The Vikings connected on just 31.6% (24-76) of their field goal attempts and finished 5-for-27 (18.5%) from behind the arc. Salem went 14-for-19 (73.7%) at the charity stripe.

The Bears held the advantage in fastbreak points (13-2) and points in the paint (50-32). The BSU bench also outscored the Salem reserves, 40-9.

The MASCAC schedule continues for both teams on Saturday afternoon. The Bears entertain Worcester State University at one o'clock, while the Vikings host Westfield State university at noon.

Notes: The Bears also swept the regular season series with the Vikings in 1969-70, 1972-73, 1982-83, 2014-15 and 2019-20....Salem holds a 95-37 advantage in the all-time series.