February 25, 2006

NORTHEAST-10 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL – FIRST ROUND
#6 Bryant 61, #11 American International 54
Box Score

BRYANT MEN DEFEAT AIC 61-54 IN NE-10 FIRST ROUND SATURDAY
Bulldogs Travel to Third-Seeded UMass Lowell Monday Night at 7 pm

SMITHFIELD, RI –   Bryant's Chris Burns (Merrimack, NH) scored a game-high 24 points while John Williams (Springfield, Mass.) added 11 to help lead the Bryant men's basketball team a 61-54 win over American International College in the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference tournament here Saturday at the Chace Athletic Center.  With the win, Bryant will travel to third-seed UMass Lowell Monday night for a 7 pm quarterfinal round game at Costello Gymnasium in Lowell, Mass. 

     With the game tied 52-52 in the final minutes, Burns drained a deep three from the top of the key with 2:39 left to put the Bulldogs ahead for good. Burns would acount for eight of Bryant's final nine points as the junior guard knocked down two free throws and drained another three to give the Bulldogs a 60-52 lead with 1:18 remaining. 

     AIC (13-15), the 11th-seed of the tournament, would get a game-high 14 points from senior guard John Huggins. Huggins, who came into the game among the league-leaders with 21.2 points per game scoring average, made just 5 of 17 from the floor including 2-for-12 from three-point range.  Levi Huncovsky had 10 points and 10 rebounds as the Yellow Jackets were eliminated from the conference playoffs by the Bulldogs for the second time in the last three years. 

     Bryant, seeded 6th, got off to a slow start as AIC led 7-0 and 11-5 in the first five minutes of a sloppy first half. A soft jumper by Pontes and a three at the top of the key by Chris Burns gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 18-16 with just over six minutes left in the half.  AIC would regain the lead behind back-to-back baskets, including a fade-away three by Huggins.  Williams would counter with a deep three of his own from well behind the arc, giving Bryant a 31-28 advantage heading into the locker room at the half.  

     Bryant (20-8), finished the game shooting 42 percent from the floor and made 10 of 19 three-pointers, but struggled at the free throw line, missing 10 of 19 free throws.  Nick Pontes (New Bedford, Mass.) had 8 points and 4 rebounds while Jarrenn Wright (Cincinnati, OH) had 5 points to go with 9 boards.