November 29, 2008

Boxscore

BRYANT FALLS TO #2 UCONN, 88-58, IN SATURDAY AFTERNOON AFFAIR AT THE XL CENTER

HARTFORD, CT  - The Bryant men's basketball team fought-hard but fell to the second ranked UConn Huskies, 88-58, at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut Saturday afternoon in front of 12, 558 fans.

The Bulldogs battled the Huskies close through the first 20 minutes of play, despite trailing 45-28 at the half. Bryant trailed by just six with as little as 6:30 remaining in the half, while also holding a lead on three different occasions.

On the back of three Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn. / M.C.I.) threes, the Bulldogs jumped out to an 11-9 lead at the first media timeout. Gresham finished with a game-high 19 points on 6-for-9 shooting from behind the arc. Tough Bryant defense held the Huskies to just 2-for-10 shooting from the field over the first five minutes of the contest.

As the two teams exchanged baskets over the next several minutes, Bryant would once again reclaim an advantage with just over 12 minutes to play, 15-14, on a baseline jump shot from Nick Pontes (New Bedford, Mass. / New Bedford).

UConn guard Craig Austrie would respond with a floater in the lane to reclaim a lead that the squad would not relinquish through the remainder of the game.

A short 4-0 run highlighted by a Hasheem Thabeet dunk gave the Huskies a 22-17 lead, but sophomore Barry Latham (Taunton, Mass. / Marianapolis Prep) responded with a big three to cut the lead back to two.

Gresham would end another short UConn run with a three later in the half to bring the score as close as 27-23 with 7:50 to go. But the Huskies outscored Bryant 18-5 over the last seven minutes, led by an 11 point effort from Austrie and nine from point guard A.J. Price who hit three from long distance in the frame. Leading scorer Jerome Dyson was held to just three points.

The Bulldogs were not helped out at all by officiating, shooting just one shot from the charity stripe in the first half while Connecticut made 11 trips to the line.

Dyson would turn it on in the second half, scoring eight of the Huskies first 12 points to extend their lead to 57-35 at the first media timeout.

After extending the lead to as many as 27, the Bulldogs would go on a 8-2 run, getting threes from Andrew Lyell (Portsmouth, R.I. / Northfield Mt. Herman) and Pete Lambert (Cumberland, R.I. / Cumberland) to cut the deficit to 70-49. Lyell finished with five points, five rebounds and five assists while playing in a game-high 38 minutes.

Trailing 76-49, Ryan McLean (Plymouth, Mass. / Plymouth North) found the scoring touch, putting in four straight for Bryant, cutting the lead back down to 76-53. McLean ended the contest with a season-high 10 points, all coming in the second half.

Connecticut had five players in double figures including a double-double from Thabeet who had 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Bryant will travel to Albany on Monday night to take on the Great Danes in the second of two meetings between the teams this season (7 p.m.). Albany won the first matchup in Smithfield 76-67.