The victory earned the 17-9 Bears – the MASCAC tournament No. 3 seed - an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III championships next weekend. It was the second conference tournament crown for Bridgewater, which also won in 1999.
“It feels great,” said Bridgewater State coach Joe Farroba. “I’ve been here 20 years and it’s only my second chance to play for a national title.”
Worcester State – the No. 4 seed – finishes with a 13-14 record. The Lancers have been in the tournament championship game in six of the past 10 years but have finished second all six times. Worcester State’s only conference tournament championship came in 1994 when it was coached by current U-Conn assistant coach Tom Moore.
The first half was a defensive struggle with Worcester holding a 6-2 lead seven minutes into the game. Bridgewater led at the intermission 23-18 following a traditional 3-point play by Tom Cuddihy (Scituate) with two seconds remaining.
Worcester, which lost both regular season games to Bridgewater, scored eight straight points in the opening two minutes of the second half for a 26-23 lead.
However, it was the last lead the Lancers held as the Bears began taking the ball inside, which in turn opened up the outside. Bridgewater went on a 10-0 run that included 3-point baskets by Cliff Furtado (Dartmouth) and Cuddihy for a 33-26 lead with 13 minutes remaining.
“We played better versus the Worcester zone than Westfield State did last night because we were able to get it to the low post better,” Farroba said.
Furtado drained another trey to give Bridgewater its first double-digit lead, 45-34, at the 7:55 mark. The Bears’ basically sealed the victory on a 3-point basket from the corner by 6-9 junior center Tyler Lang (Franklin) for a 50-36 edge with 5:15 remaining.
“Furtado’s little 3-point (shooting) run was a huge to the momentum of the game,” said Farroba.
Bridgewater only shot 34 percent from the field for the game, but in the second half it made 6 of 9 3-point baskets.
Only five players scored for Bridgewater but four were in double figures and Lang finished with eight points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Junior forward Derek Thompson (Hyannis) had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Furtado finished with 14 points, including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc. Cuddihy canned 13 points and junior guard Adam Rose (Harwich) scored 10.
“Twenty-four of our points came off the bench and balance has been a huge part of our game all year,” said Farroba.
Worcester only shot 31 percent from the floor, including 3-for-18 from 3-point range. Senior guard Tyson Drayton (Roxbury) scored 14 points and sophomore guard Will Spont (Bellingham) had 13. Senior guard Ryan Hopkins (Oxford), who poured in 31 points in a 70-53 tournament semifinal victory over No. 1 seed Westfield State on Friday, finished with only five points.
“We couldn’t get anything going in the second half because their zone was giving us trouble,” said Worcester State head coach Dave Lindberg. “The seniors played like warriors. Ryan had a huge game last night against Westfield; he just couldn’t get it going today.”
- Story written by Mickey Curtis, Westfield State sports information director