Men's Basketball Drops 92-86 MASCAC Decision to Worcester State

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The struggles of the Bridgewater State University men's basketball team continued on Saturday afternoon with a sixth straight loss.

The Bears were unable to hold a 14-point first-half lead and remained winless in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference with a 92-86 defeat to Worcester State University at the Tinsley Center.

BSU (5-11, 0-4 in the MASCAC) is winless in 2025 with its last victory coming on Dec. 30 in double overtime at Salve Regina University.

The six-game losing streak is the program's longest since the Bears finished the 2021-22 season with seven losses in a row. BSU is the only team in the MASCAC without a win.

The game was a rematch of the 2024 MASCAC championship game won in overtime by top-seeded Worcester State (5-11, 2-1 MASCAC).

BSU senior TJ Williams (Jupiter, Fla.) scored a season-high 29 points, making 9 of 17 shots with a pair of 3-ipointers. He had three assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Junior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half and added nine assists, three steals and three rebounds.

Kikuba now has 958 points in his two-plus seasons at BSU.

Also in double figures was junior Samuel Omisore (Boston, Mass.) with 12 points to go with six rebounds.

Sophomore Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.) had seven points in 21 minutes in his return off the bench. Campbell had been the team's leading scorer in the opening five games, but he had been idle since Nov. 19 due to an injury.

Worcester State was led by senior Brandon Goris (Bronx, N.Y.) with 28 points on 11-for-17 shooting plus seven assists.

Graduate student Sam Davies (Worcester, Mass.) scored 13 points and had five assists.

Freshman Camdyn Shoesmith (Bedford, Mass.) made 6 of 7 shots and had 12 points and 11 rebounds while junior Shawn Hebert (Ayer, Mass.) hit four 3-pointers for 12 points off the bench,

The Lancers made 55 percent of their shots (36-for-66), going 22-for-32 for 69 percent in the second half.

Worcester State is the eighth team to score at least 90 points against BSU and the fourth during the six-game losing streak.

The Bears are allowing 87.2 points per game this season.

BSU jumped to a 10-3 lead less than three minutes into the game, getting a pair of 3-pointers from senior captain Alex Gonzalez (Peabody, Mass.).

The Bears' lead climbed to double digits at 17-7 on a 3-pointer by sophomore Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) and was 20-7 on a Williams' 3-pointer.

BSU's largest lead was 32-18 when junior Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.) made a layup with 8:31 to play in the half.

But over a stretch of 13:14 beginning late in the first half until 5:16 into the second half, the Lancers outscored the Bears, 45-19, to turn that double digit deficit into a 63-51 advantage.

Worcester State closed within 42-39 at halftime and opened the second half on a 24-9 run in just over five minutes.

Goris had eight of the points for the Lancers in the early part of the second half as the BSU defense struggled.

Williams scored all nine of the Bears' points in that early part of the second half, hitting two jumpers, a layup and a 3-pointer.

After trailing by 12, BSU outscored Worcester State, 19-7, to pull even at 70 with 7:42 remaining on a layup by Williams.

A layup by Omisore with 7:02 to play put BSU down, 73-72, and the Bears trailed, 83-80, on a pair of foul shots by Kikuba with 4:18 left.

That was as close as BSU got as Shoesmith hit a layup with 49 seconds to go after two more Kikuba free throws, putting the Lancers ahead, 90-84.

BSU committed just nine turnovers and there were no fast-break points in the game.

The Bears shot 48 percent, hitting 16 of 27 shots in the second half.

BSU, now 1-7 at the Tinsley Center, is home again on Wednesday night to face Fitchburg State University (4-12, 1-2 MASCAC) at 5:30 p.m.

Worcester State, which is now 1-7 on the road, will entertain Salem State on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.