Third Seeded Bridgewater State Claims Third Straight MASCAC Men's Basketball Championship With 91-73 Title Game Victory At Top Seeded Salem State
Third-seeded Bridgewater State claimed its third straight Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship on Saturday afternoon by posting a 91-73 victory over top-seeded Salem State in the 2011 tournament title game played at Twohig Gymnasium in Salem, Mass.
Courtesy Salem State Sports Information
Salem, MA -- The Bridgewater State
Bears won their third consecutive post-season MASCAC championship
after beating the Salem State Vikings 91-73 at the James Twohig
Gymnasium Saturday.
It was the fifth overall MASCAC tournament title from the No. 3
seed Bears as they snapped a 16-game Viking win streak dating back
to Jan. 6.
Bridgewater State led by as many as 22 points in the second-half,
but the Vikings went on a 15-0 run to cut their deficit to just
seven with 9:55 on the clock. But Bridgewater State hit 17-of-21
free throws down the stretch and held off the Vikings' surge to win
the title.
Bear's senior guard Judah Jackson (Everett, MA) hit a jumper after
an offensive rebound by Andrew Kelley (Mansfield, MA) to put
Bridgewater State back up by 13 with 5:42 left to play. The Vikings
answered with a bucket from Brian Clark (Deerfield, MA),
to bring their deficit back to 11, but were not able to get any
closer than that as the Bears cruised to commanding victory.
Jackson won the game's MVP honors. He nearly posted a triple-double
with 18 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds. Nicolas Motta (Fairhaven,
MA) was the game's leading scorer with 22. Corey Connor
(Providence, RI), Samuel Johnson (North Chelmsford, MA), and
Anthony Fortes (East Providence, RI) all also put up double-figures
in points for Bridgewater State.
Salem State's Apollos Wade (Taunton, MA) opened the
first-half on fire by nailing a trio of three pointers, but the
Bears went on an 11-2 run late in the period capped by a Nicolas
Motta jumper, and went into the locker room with a 44-33 lead.
Wade finished the game with 19 points. Tavone Wynder
(So. Boston, MA) posted a double-double with 10 points and 10
boards. Brian Clark scored 14 points and Dan Clark
(Deerfield, MA) put up 11.
Bridgewater State stayed hot after halftime as Motta made a
layup and was fouled and converted from the foul line on the
Bear's second possession to increase their lead to 14. After
Brian Clark hit one of two from the charity stripe on
the Viking's next possession, Salem State's Tristian
Shannon (Andover, MA) fouled Motta and then was called for a
technical. Connor made both technical shots and Motta made one of
two and the visiting Bears went up by 16 early in the period.
It was the final collegiate game for both Brennan
Bennett (Northbridge, MA) and Nick Linear (Salem,
MA), both seniors. Bennett scored three points on 1-3 shooting and
Linear scored eight points and went 2-6 from the field.
