Bridgewater – the No. 3 seed with a 16-9 overall record – advanced to Saturday’s championship game, where it will play the winner of the semifinal game between Worcester State and Westfield State.
Salem, which split its regular season series with Bridgewater, finishes with an 18-8 record.
Bridgewater had five players score in double figures and another player with nine points. The Bears closed out each half with key scoring runs. They took the lead for good in the final 1:57 of the first half, going on an 8-0 run to take a 39-33 intermission advantage.
The Bears never trailed in the second half, holding leads ranging from one to six points for most of the stanza. Bridgewater led 71-68 with exactly 4:00 minutes remaining, then closed out the game with a 14-3 run.
Scoring 13 points for Bridgewater were freshman Roland Millen (Stoughton) and junior guard Adam Rose (Harwich). Junior guard Damian Shakespeare (Waltham) scored 11 points and 6-9 junior center Tyler Lang (Franklin) had 10 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Sophmore guard Tom Cuddihy (Scituate) tallied seven points and game-high seven assists.
Junior forward Eric Downey (Medford) and freshman forward Dylan Holmes (Groton) combined to score 50 of Salem’s 71 points. Downey – the conference Player of the Year – poured in 30 points and Holmes had 20.
Story courtesy Westfield State Sports Information