BULLDOGS WIN SIXTH STRAIGHT, 69-62 OVER CENTRAL CONNECTICUT, BEHIND CAREER DAY FOR ALEX FRANCIS

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Junior forward Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) scored a season-high 26 points, 20 of them coming in the second half, and pulled in a career-high 18 rebounds to post his third double-double of the season as the Bryant University men's basketball team came from behind to take a 69-62 victory over Central Connecticut on the road Saturday.

The win was the sixth straight for a Bryant (11-4, 4-0 Northeast Conference) side that has won 11 of its last 13 games. The Bulldogs saw four score in double figures, with 14 coming from senior point guard Frankie Dobbs (Berea, Ohio), 11 from sophomore Joe O'Shea (Burlington, Vt.) and 10 from junior Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia). The Blue Devils (6-9, 2-2) were paced by 22 points from Kyle Vinales and 20 more from Adonis Burbage.

Trailing by four with 7:18 remaining, the Bulldogs kept the game tight in the second half before using a trey from Dobbs with 5:34 to play to knot the game at 53-53. The visitors needed another trifecta from O'Shea to draw the game even once again, 56-56, as the clock ticked below four minutes, but the Bulldogs would score the next seven points from there – five of them from Francis – for a 63-56 advantage that took the clock down to 1:21. Bryant would convert 6-of-9 from the line in the final 90 seconds, holding on to the seven-point cushion en route to the 69-62 final.

But the score favored Central Connecticut for much of the contest, as turnovers plagued the Bulldogs throughout the first half under tough Blue Devil pressure. Three early giveaways spotted the home team a 15-7 lead before a corner three from Maynard and a three-point play from O'Shea cut the margin to 17-13 with 12 minutes to go in the first, but CCSU would push its advantage back up to 11 as the clock ticked under the six-minute mark, 29-18.

Bryant shot just 36.1 percent in the opening stanza, allowing the Blue Devils eight points off seven turnovers, all coming early in the frame, and getting to the line just twice. The brightest spot of the half for the Black and Gold was the play of Maynard, whose steal and fastbreak layup with 3:50 to go cut the gap to 29-22 and sparked a 9-2 Bulldog spurt.

The run combined three big defensive stops with a trey from Dobbs, a long jumper from sophomore Dyami Starks (Duluth, Minn.) and a hard-fought layup from Francis to bring the Bulldogs within a single basket, 31-29, with less than two minutes to go. The margin would stick heading into halftime, as both teams got on the board once more for a 33-31 CCSU edge entering the second frame.

Bryant would have to play the final 20 minutes without Maynard, however, who would be sidelined for the remainder of the contest after an injury late in the first. Still, the Bulldogs took their first lead since the game's opening minutes, 34-33, with 16:44 left in the contest, and CCSU wouldn't get on the board in the second half for more than five minutes, starting out the stanza 0-for-9 from the field.

The Bulldogs would extend their lead to 38-33 with less than 15 minutes remaining, but it would be short lived, as consecutive threes from Burbage and Vinales reclaimed the home team's edge, 39-38, with 13:39 to play.

CCSU wouldn't miss much from long range, either, scoring six of its first seven second-frame baskets from 3-point land. But the Blue Devils couldn't get much else to drop in the second half, going 9-for-33 from the floor in the final 20 minutes to limit their lead to no more than five points throughout the stanza.

The Bulldogs would shoot 50 percent in the second half for a .417 shooting clip on the day, also going 13-for-18 from the line in their first victory at Detrick Gym in the Division I era (four meetings). Bryant dished out 16 assists on the day, including a game-high five from Dobbs, and outrebounded the Blue Devils, 43-42.

The Bulldogs remain perfect in afternoon games this season (7-0) and move to 6-3 on the road in 2012-13. They will be back home for their next two outings, as Bryant plays host to Mount St. Mary's (Thursday, Jan. 17, 7 p.m.) and Wagner (Saturday, Jan. 19, 4 p.m.) next week.