Men's Basketball Falls to Westfield State, 80-73

WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Westfield State University men's basketball team overcame a 31-point effort from Bridgewater State University freshman guard Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) as the Owls rallied for an 80-73 victory over the visiting Bears in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) matchup on Saturday afternoon at the Woodward Center.

The Owls improve to 8-15 on the season and 7-4 in the MASCAC, while the Bears fall to 16-7 overall and 6-4 in conference play. Westfield has won seven of the last eight meetings of the two teams and holds a 61-54 edge in the all-time series.

Kikuba connected on 12 of 19 field goal, including 4-for-8 from behind the arc, and went 3-for-4 at the free throw line. He also added six rebounds, two assists and a game-best five steals.

The Bears also received 21 points, seven rebounds, one assist and three steals from freshman forward Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.), while graduate center Emerson Halbleib (Carmel, Ind.) pulled down a team-best 11 rebounds with five coming off the offensive glass.

Senior forward Brendan Keaveny (Quincy, Mass.) led Westfield State with 19 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals. Keaveny finished 5-for-11 from behind the arc. Senior forward Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass.) posted a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for the Owls to go along with five assists, while freshman guard Lance Lennon (Reading, Pa.) added 11 points and three boards, and senior forward Kumar Brown (Enfield, Conn.) notched ten points, five rebounds and a pair of steals in 34 minutes off the bench.

The Bears led 38-34 at the break after never trailing in the first half. The half featured a pair of ties and Bridgewater's biggest lead was eight points (31-23). Kikuba led all players with 16 first-half points, while Keaveny paced the Owls with 14.

The Bears shot 45.2% (14-31) from the floor over the first 20 minutes, including 5-for-19 (26.3%) from behind the arc. The Owls connected on 46.4% (13-28) of their first-half field goal attempts and knocked down 5 of 13 (38.5%) three-pointers. Bridgewater went 5-for-6 (83.3%) at the free throw line while Westfield was 3-for-4 (75%) at the stripe. The two teams combined for 21 turnovers.

Layups by Jennings and Kikuba to open the second half have the visitors an eight-point advantage at 42-34. The Bears, however, managed to score just eight points over the next nine minutes. The Owls outscored the Bears 25-8 during that stretch to open up a 59-50 lead. Six different players scored for Westfield during the 25-8 run led by seven points from sophomore guard Kobe Parker (Chicopee, Mass.).

Back-to-back three-point plays by Jennings made it a three-point game (59-56) with 8 ½ minutes left to play. Later in the period, a three-pointer by Kikuba pulled the Bears to within one at 66-65 with five minutes remaining. After the teams exchanged layups (68-67), the Bears missed their next four shots and turned the ball over twice. The Owls capitalized reeling off six straight points on buckets by Brown and Hamilton and a pair of Gerry McManus (Jr., Hudson, Mass.) free throws to pull ahead, 74-67, with just under two minutes showing on the scoreboard. Bridgewater would get no closer than four the rest of the way as Westfield came away with the 80-73 victory.

The Owls shot 47.5% (28-59) for the game and finished 8-for-22 (36.4%) from three-point range and 16-for-19 (84.2%) at the free throw line. The Bears knocked down 43.8% (28-64) of their field goal attempts and went 8-for-28 (28.6%) from behind the arc and 9-for-11 (81.8%) at the charity stripe.

Both teams are back in action on Wednesday evening. The Bears entertain MASCAC foe Fitchburg State University at 5:30 while the Owls host Mitchell College at seven.