February 5, 2008
BRYANT MEN DEFEAT FRANKLIN PIERCE 62-53
BOXSCORE
RINDGE, N.H. - Sophomore guard Chris Birrell (Scituate,
R.I.) scored 16 points while Barry Latham
(Taunton, MA) added 12 points and 13 rebounds as the
Bryant men's basketball team rebounded from Saturday's tough
last-second loss at Bentley with a hard-fought 62-53 win at
Franklin Pierce Tuesday night.
Bryant (13-9, 9-8 NE-10) led 32-27 at the half but a 9-3 run to
open the second half keyed by a three-pointer from Jeff Manchester
(6 points) put Franklin Pierce ahead 36-35 four minutes into the
half and forcing the Bulldogs to burn a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Peter Lambert (Cumberland,
RI) drilled a three at the 11 minute mark and after a
three from FPC's Rimas Varanauskas closed the Bryant lead down to
two at 45-43, Birrell would knock the wind out of the Ravens
comeback with a rare four-point play.
Birrell, working with the shot clock under 10 seconds, banked in
a fade-away three from the right side and was fouled by Franklin
Pierce's Steve Ramos. Birrell would convert the free throw to
push the Bulldogs back out in front, 49-43 with 8:15 left.
Franklin Pierce (7-14, 3-13 NE-10) would manage to get back to
within six minutes later, but Jerrann Wright (Cincinnati,
OH) battled hard inside all night and was rewarded with an
offensive putback and Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange,
NJ) put the game away with a deep three with just over
five minutes left to make it 56-45.
Bryant shot 42 percent from the floor and made 11 of 27 from
beyond the arc. Wright finished with 11 points and five
rebounds before fouling out.
Timothy Much and Varanauskas each had 13 to lead Franklin
Pierce.
Bryant will host American International on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
at the Chace Athletic Center.
