December 29, 2007
BRYANT MEN DEFEAT PHILADELPHIA 61-53 SATURDAY
Bryant Holiday Basketball Tournament - Day 2
Results
Bryant 61, Philadelphia 53
SMITHFIELD, R.I. - Senior guard Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange, NJ)
scored 17 points and made four free throws in the final minutes as
the Bryant men's basketball team won its third in a row Saturday
night, defeating Philadelphia 61-53 in the final game of the Bryant
Holiday Tournament at the Chace Athletic Center.
Sophomore Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, CT) led all scorers with a
career-high 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the floor while
junior forward Jerrann Wright (Cincinnati, OH) added 13 points and
8 rebounds.
Bryant (7-5) led 33-22 at the half and led by as much as 41-28
following a lay-up by Wright with 11:51 remaining.
Philadelphia (5-9), led by Marcus Lemon's 13 points, used six
second half 3-point baskets to pull to within 47-45 with 3:54 left
on a three from Jason Hickenbottom. Hickenbottom, who came
into the game averaging 14 points a game, was held scoreless in the
first half but managed 12 second half points for the Rams.
Malcom Ingram, who was also averaging 14 points per game for
Philadelphia, struggled against the Bryant defense, going just 3
for 10 from the floor before fouling out in the second half.
After the Rams cut the Bulldog lead down to two, Ezeokoli went
to work against the Philadelphia defense, scoring a layup inside to
make it 49-45. On Bryant's next possession, the Bulldog
senior set up Gresham for a big three and the Bulldogs rolled from
there.
Bryant shot 44.7 percent from the floor (52 percent in the first
half) and made 13 of 19 free throws. Philadelphia was just
33.3 percent shooting including 9 of 26 from three-point range.
The Bulldogs return to action Wednesday night, hosting Merrimack
College in a Northeast-10 Conference game at the Chace Athletic
Center. Tipoff is at 7:30 pm.
# # #
Assumption 64, Post 62
SMITHFIELD, RI - In the earlier game, Assumption's Greg
Twomey sank two free throws with 0.5 seconds left to give the
Greyhounds a 64-62 win over Post University Twomey had 19
points for Assumption (10-3). Post (5-6) was led by AJ
Reitter's 18 points and Peter Lawal's 14 points and 10 rebounds.
