BRYANT DEFEATS BLOOMFIELD, 102-78 WEDNESDAY
Face 12^th-Ranked Holy Family Thursday at 7 pm
 
Box Score

   SMITHFIELD, R.I. –  The Bryant University men's basketball team may have been idle for the past 18 days, but the Bulldogs didn't look rusty one bit, rolling to a 102-78 victory over Bloomfield College Wednesday afternoon at the Bryant Comfort Suites Holiday Tournament hosted by the Bulldogs at the Chace Athletic Center.

    John Williams (Springfield, MA) and Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange, NJ) paced five Bryant players in double figures with 19 points each while Nick Pontes (New Bedford, MA) added 18 points and five rebounds for the Bulldogs who finished the game shooting 61.4 percent from the floor in the game, including 10 of 19 from three-point range.

     Bryant, which was playing for the first time since a loss to Stonehill back on Dec. 10, missed just 10 shots in the first half, going 21 for 31 from the floor in leading 54-42 at the break.  Williams was a red-hot 4-for-4 from three point range and had 17 points in the first half alone.

     In the second half, Bloomfield (4-4) would pull to within nine, 54-45 following a free throw by Tony Wilson with 19:33 left, but a steal by Dan Hammond (Brunswick, ME) resulted in a lay-up by Ezeokoli, giving Bryant its largest lead of the game, 62-47 with 17:00 left.

     Bloomfield, led by Andre Dabney's game-high 21 points while Shelton Powell added 15 points and nine rebounds.  The Deacons controlled the boards in the game, out-rebounding Bryant 41 to 28 as Boswell grabbed six of his eight rebounds on the offensive end. 

     After going the first half without registering an offensive rebound, the Bulldogs had seven boards on the offensive end in the second half with freshman Jarrrenn Wright (Cincinatti, OH) coming off the bench to grab three offensive boards. Wright would finish the game with 12 points in 14 minutes. 

     Williams, Bryant's All-America senior guard dished out a season-high eight assists and finished the game 4 of 6 shooting from three point range.

     The Bulldogs will close out the face 12^th ranked Holy Family Thursday at 7 pm at the Chace Athletic Center.  Holy Family was upset by Saint Anselm, 86-67 in the second game of the evening Wednesday, snapping the Tigers eight-game win streak.