December 28, 2009
BULLDOGS OUTMATCHED BY INDIANA,
SUFFER 90-42 DEFEAT AT ASSEMBLY HALL MONDAY NIGHT
Boxscore /
Photo
Gallery
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Sophomore Papa Lo recorded a pair of blocks
against Indiana,
upping his season total to 31 on the year.
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Junior Michael Chroney (Nashua,
N.H.) scored a team-high 13 points and added a game-best
nine rebounds to lead the Bryant University men's basketball team,
but the Bulldogs were outmatched by their Big Ten opponent, falling
to Indiana, 90-42, in front of 11,138 Monday night at Assembly
Hall.
Chroney's 13 points were a career-best for the junior walk-on,
who earned the fourth start of his career against the Hoosiers. He
also led the team on the glass with his nine rebounds, just missing
his second-career double-double. Freshman Vlad Kondratyev
(Nikolayev, Ukraine) also recorded double-digit points
with 10 off 4-of-10 shooting from the floor. The Bulldogs were held
to a season-low 42 points and shot just 25 percent from the field.
Bryant (0-13) worked hard in the offensive end throughout the
contest, particularly in the first half, getting some good looks
but not much reward for its efforts. The Bulldogs hit just six
baskets in the opening frame, shooting 22.2 percent from the floor
(6-27), and were sent to the locker room with a 45-17 halftime
deficit.
The Hoosiers (6-6) opened up a big lead right out of the gates,
taking a 12-2 edge before Bryant got its first basket of the game
off a 3-pointer from the hands of freshman Erick Smith (Bel
Air, Md.) on the wing. But Indiana responded with a trey
of its own to regain the double-figure advantage, 15-5.
Bryant's next score came from an unlikely source in defensive
bigman Papa Lo (Thies, Senegal) down low at the
10:53 mark, fed from rookie Raphael Jordan (Bel Air,
Md.) on the right side. The layup cut the Hoosiers' lead
to 19-7, but not for long.
The home side's double-digit advantage would hold for the
remainder of the frame, highlighted by five 3-point field goals,
three of them coming back-to-back-to-back. The Hoosiers would
take a 28-point lead into the break, their final points coming off
a Devan Dumes runner as time expired.
Smith's five points led the Bulldogs at the half, while Chroney
pulled down five boards entering intermission.
Bryant would come out of the break on a 7-2 run, but after
Barry Latham (Taunton, Mass.) capped it off with a
four-point play to move the score to 47-24 just 1:28 into the
second frame - Christian Watford fouled the junior forward in the
right corner as his shot fell in from long range - Bryant went
cold, allowing the Hoosiers 14-straight points to put the game out
of reach.
The Bulldogs would record five blocks on the day, including two
apiece from Lo and Kondratyev. Sophomore Sam Leclerc
(Fayette, Maine) made a game-high three steals.
Watford and Verdell Jones III led the contest with 15 points
apiece while Watford also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds,
tying Chroney. The Hoosiers shot 55.2 percent from the floor and
outrebounded Bryant, 50-32.
The Bulldogs will welcome in the new year with their final
non-conference matchup of the 2009-10 season when they travel to
Cornell University on January 2. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m.
