BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Bridgewater's Precious Okoh scored 27 points and added 10 assists and Emerson Halbleib added 21 points and 15 rebounds as the Bears defeated Westfield State, 83-74 in the semifinals of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Tinsley Center on Thursday evening.
Westfield's season comes to an end with a 19-8 record. Jujo Omot (Springfield, Mass./Central) led the Owls with 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Angel Price-Espada (Cambridge, Mass./Pope John XXIII) added 18 points, and Kuany Teng (Manchester, N.H.) 12. Owls senior Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass./Tech) wrapped up an outstanding four-year career with 11 points and 11 rebounds, his ninth straight double double.
#2 Bridgewater improves to 14-11, and advances to Saturday's championship game to play at #1 seed Worcester State, a 76-52 winner over #4 MCLA in the other semifinal game tonight.
Westfield trailed 35-29 at the half.
The game was back and forth early. The Bears got some breathing room when Halbleib converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 4:45 left in the first half to lead 29-22.
The tempo was high throughout, but the Owls shot just 31 percent from the floor, while Bridgewater connected at just a 35 percent clip. Omot led Westfield with 13 in the first half, while the Bears got 13 from Halbleib and 12 from Okoh.
Westfield started the second half on a 6-2 run that drew a quick timeout from the Bears bench. The Bears answered with a wing three from Dante Kikuba out of the time out.
The Bears extended the lead to eight, 49-41 with a three pointer from Okoh with 15 minutes to play. Another Kikuba three boosted the BSU lead to 10, 59-49, with 10 minutes left in regulation.
A Halbleib putback dunk with 8:35 left made the lead 63-53 lit up the big crowd, and drive from Josh Campbell a possession later extended the lead to 12 for the first time. Kikuba extended the lead to 15 with a wing three pointer with 6:30 left.
Price-Espada hit back-to-back threes for Westfield to trim the lead to 78-67 with 1:24 left to play.
After a Bears turnover, Westfield got it to nine, 78-69 after putback from Jerome Stephens with 59 seconds left, and the Owls used their final timeout.
Kikuba knocked down a pair of free thows to push the lead to 80-69, but Teng drove the lane to get it back to nine. The Owls forced a turnover, but Stephens' three was off the mark, and the Owls were forced to foul.
Teng went to the hole again to keep the lead at 10, 82-72 with 25 seconds to play, but the Owls ran out of time.
Westfield suffered through a rough shooting night, connecting on just 4 of 27 three pointers, missing their first seven tries of the second half.
Westfield was seeking a fifth straight trip to the conference championship game.
Hamilton finishes his career with 1,302 career points (11th all time at Westfield), 1,159 rebounds (Second) and 215 blocked shots (Second), and a 52.2 field goal percentage (eighth).
Kikuba finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Campbell added 10 off the bench for the Bears.