Men's Basketball suffers first conference loss to Bears 78-67
North Adams, MA- Bridgewater State's Dimitri St. Louis scored a game high 28 points and the visiting Bears never trailed as they defeated the MCLA Men's Basketball team 78-67 in MASCAC action this afternoon. The loss was the first of the season for MCLA in conference play as they fall to 6-1 in the MASCAC and 13-6 overall. The Bears earn a key road win and improve to 7-12 overall, but 4-3 in the conference.
The Bears never trailed as they jumped out to a 14-2 lead after six minutes of play. MCLA would claw back however and trim the margin to just 20-15 after a Marius Turner layup with 8:24 left in the first half. The Bears would eventually lead 29-24 at halftime as MCLA shot just 30% from the floor. St. Louis scored 9 points to lead all scorers in the opening half.
Coming out of the locker room, the Bears quickly extended the lead to double figures. Ryan Carney scored five straight points for BSU after Noah Yearsley trimmed the lead to just three points. When Alan Pettway drilled a three pointer, the Bears would lead 37-26.
MCLA was still in the contest with nine minutes left to play as they trailed just 56-46. From there, the Bears exploded on a 10-2 spurt to seize control and lead 66-48 with just seven minutes left to play. The lead would grow 21 points at 74-53 as MCLA wouldn't be able to mount much of a threat from there.
St. Louis was tremendous in the second half as he tallied 19 of his 28 in the closing twenty minutes. He was 9-18 from the floor and added 8 rebounds. Ryan Carney shook off a tough first half by scoring all 18 of his points after halftime. He was 7-18 from the floor. Pettway ended with 16 points in the win. Rayshon Ward only scored 5 points, however he grabbed 19 rebounds, dished out 5 assists, and collected 3 blocks.
The Bears shot 40% from the floor in the win including a 56% clip in the pivotal second half.
MCLA was paced by Marius Turner's 12 points off the bench. Noah Yearsley added 11 points while Chris Becker ended with 10.
The Trailblazers couldn't overcome the tough shooting night as they ended the game at 39%.
MCLA will be on the road next as they head to Fitchburg State on Wednesday night.