BLOOMFIELD, NJ – The Bears men's basketball team took an important victory on Wednesday night as they won, 90-66 over The University of Bridgeport. The road victory brought Bloomfield one step closer to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) North Division regular season title as they improved to 10-5 in league contests and 19-8 overall. The setback left the Purple Knights at 5-10 in conference play and 11-16 overall.
The Bears starting backcourt of Deavion Ellis and Al Fatir Connor combined for half of the visiting team's scoring output and kept Bridgeport off-balanced all night. Ellis finished the night with 24 points (10-15 FG, 2-4 3PT, 2-3 FT) and Connor recorded 21 (8-13 FG, 5-5 FT) while both guards secured 5 rebounds apiece. Freshman guard, Starrell Hearns continued his consistent play off the bench, pouring in 13 points and 5 boards while shooting 50.0 percent from the field (5-10) in 18 minutes of action.
Bloomfield controlled the tempo for most of the game, taking a 35-29 advantage at the halftime intermission. The visitors erupted in the 2nd half, shooting 60.6 percent from the field (20-33) fueled by 15 points from Ellis which included a theatrical dunk to put an exclamation point on the Bears win.
Edward Ngene pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds and 4 blocks as the NCAA Division II's top shot-blocker chases the CACC single season record in denials. Senior forward, Abdallah Elsaleh rounded out the top scorers for Bloomfield, chipping in 11 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
Next up the Bears will close out their 2023-24 campaign on Saturday, March 2 when they host Caldwell University for Senior Day. The 3:00 pm showdown looms large as Bloomfield is set to claim the CACC North Division regular season crown with a win over the Cougars.
If you missed the excitement of today's match-up or you'd like to see it again, you can click this link to watch it ON DEMAND.
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