BRYANT MEN'S BASKETBALL

February 17, 2007

Bryant Men's Hoops Gets Comeback Win at SCSU

Burns Posts Career-High 36 Points

NEW HAVEN, CT. - Senior guard Chris Burns (Merrimack, NH) scored a career-high 36 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 78-72 victory over Southern Connecticut State Saturday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Conference game.

With the game tied at 68 with 1:13 to play, Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange, NJ) drove to the hoop to give the Bulldogs the two-point lead. Burns then blocked a shot on the other end and sunk four free-throws to ice the game and give him his career high.

The Bulldogs finally grabbed a lead, 60-59 with 5:45 to play in the game, when Burns sunk the front end of two free throws. Bryant overcame a five-point halftime deficit to edge the Owls and get a big win that inched them closer to a first-round bye in conference tournament.

Ezeokoli was very aggressive getting to the hoop and added 17 points for the Bulldogs, 11 in the second half.

Burns was everywhere in the first 25 minutes, scoring 24 points but was limited by a lower body injury the rest of the way. He gritted it out the rest of the way, sinking his seventh three with 3:54 to play to give Bryant a 68-65 lead.

The Bulldogs got off to a slow start, falling behind 17-5 in the first four minutes but rallied back to tie the game at 31 with 2:30 left in the first half. SCSU had numerous second-chance opportunities, scoring 10 points off offensive boards while grabbing 11 boards on the offensive glass in the first half.

Burns drained his first four three-point attempts and tallied 21 of his team's 31 first-half points.

Bryant (17-9, 13-8 NE-10) will close out its regular season at home Tuesday against Merrimack College at 7:30 p.m. Before the game, the three Bulldog seniors will be honored as part of Senior Night.