January 10, 2009

Box Score

BULLDOGS GIVE BEARS A SCARE; FALL, 69-56, AT PIZZITOLA CENTER SATURDAY AFTERNOON

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - After trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half, the Bryant University men's basketball team was able to cut the deficit to as little as three, but the Brown Bears pulled away down the stretch to escape with a 69-56 win at the Pizzitola Center Saturday afternoon.

The Bears (6-8) shot a blistering 61.9 percent from the floor while connecting on seven-of-ten from behind the arc to take a, 38-25, lead into halftime. Forward Matt Mullery and sophomore guard Sean Kane each had nine points to lead all scorers at the break.

Trailing 12-7 early in the contest, Bryant (2-13) went on a 7-0 run, tying the game on a Sam Leclerc (Fayette, Maine / Winthrop) and taking the lead with a Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn. / MCI) bank shot in the lane to give the Bulldogs their second lead of the contest at 14-12 with 12:14 to go in the first frame.

The teams would continue to battle back-and-forth, exchanging the lead six times in the first 20 minutes, as Bryant would once again gain an advantage with 8:49 to play, this time on a drive by Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y. / Lindenhurst) making the score 20-19 with 8:49 to go in the half.

The Bears would then shut down the Bulldogs and go on a 19-2 run, pushing the lead as high as 16 with 1:27 to go. Kane knocked went 3-for-3 from downtown in the half, as Brown hit four three's in a row to end the frame. Pete Lambert (Cumberland, R.I. / Cumberland ) hit a three as time expired to cut the lead down to 13 as the teams headed for the locker rooms. Lambert finished in double-figures for the third straight game, scoring 11 points and hitting three three's.

Bryant shot just 34.5 percent in the first half, knocking down 3-of-10 from the outside. Lambert and Nick Pontes (New Bedford, Mass. / New Bedford) paced the Bulldogs with six each. Bryant was once again outshot at the free-throw line, as the Bears shot ten from the charity stripe while the Bulldogs shot just two.

The second half saw the Bulldogs put together another ferocious comeback, slowly digging into the Brown lead.  Pontes came alive scoring 12 second-half points and finishing with a game-high 18, making it four-straight games in double-figures.

The Bulldogs scored four quick points to cut the Bear lead to single digits at 40-31 after a steal and score by Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I. / Scituate). The junior point guard played another solid game, finishing with four points, four steals and two assists without committing a turnover in 35 minutes.

Bryant continued to hang around, scoring five-straight points on a pair of Lambert free-throws and a three from Gresham, trailing by just six with 13:45 left.

After a Peter Sullivan jumper pushed the lead back to ten, the Bulldogs went on an 8-2 run, highlighted by a backdoor alley-oop pass from Lambert to Ryan McLean (Plymouth, Mass. / Plymouth North), cutting the one-time 16 point deficit down to four, trailing 52-48 with 8:06 left.

Bryant had its chances to come even closer, but just could not get shots to fall down the stretch. Gresham and Parzych each had good looks from three on consecutive possessions with the Bulldogs trailing by four, but could not get the shots to stay down. Gresham finished with 13 points, recording double-figures for the first time since December 27^th against Maryland, as he continues to battle back from illness.

A Pontes turnaround jumper off the glass kept Bryant within four with five minutes to go in the game, but Brown would get huge back-to-back three's from Sullivan and Adrian Williams to gain some distance against a pesky Bulldog squad, grabbing a 60-50 lead. The Bears cooled off in the second half, shooting 38.5 percent in the frame while Bryant hit on 43.3 percent.

Solid free-throw shooting down the stretch closed the game out for the Bears, as they were 8-for-9 in the second half after hitting on just 50 percent in the first frame.

Bryant begins a three-game home stand on Monday night as the squad returns to the Chace Center to take on defending Ivy League Champion Cornell (7 p.m.).