LED BY FIVE DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORERS, BRYANT EASES PAST WAGNER, 82-59, FOR LUCKY NUMBER 13

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Led by junior Alex Francis's (Harlem, N.Y.) second-straight double-double effort, five Bulldogs reached double-figures to propel the Bryant University men's basketball to its eighth-consecutive victory, defeating Wagner, 82-59, Saturday at the Chace Athletic Center.

The Bulldogs (13-4, 6-0 Northeast Conference) led from start to finish to top Wagner (9-8, 3-3) in Smithfield for the first time in four tries, taking a 10-point margin into the halftime break before using a 25-6 run that spanned nine full minutes in the second half to pull away for a 26-point lead, 69-43, with less than seven minutes remaining in the contest.

A trifecta from Wagner's Dwaun Anderson stunted the stretch, but it was too little too late for the Seahawks to catch up to a Bryant side that was clicking on all cylinders Saturday, as the Bulldogs maintained a 20-point advantage through the final buzzer to earn their 13th victory in 15 the last games.

Five Bulldogs hit the double-figure scoring mark for the fourth-straight game at home and the fourth time this season. Sophomore Dyami Starks (Duluth, Minn.) paced Bryant with a game-high 17 points and three boards, while senior Frankie Dobbs (Berea, Ohio) chipped in 15 points and five assists in 33 minutes of play. Francis snatched a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with his 12 points for his second-straight double-double (fourth of the season), while junior Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia) added 11 points and six assists and sophomore Joe O'Shea (Burlington, Vt.) put up 12 points and four boards off the bench.

Jonathon Williams led the Seahawks with 17 points and nine rebounds, with Eric Fanning adding 13 points of his own off the Wagner bench.

Bryant shot lights out from the field, once again eclipsing the 50 percent mark (56.3) for the game, including hitting 8-of-16 from deep. Wagner finished the game at a 33.3 percent clip, knocking down just five of its 26 attempts from long range. The Seahawks edged the hosts in rebounding, grabbing 36 boards to Bryant's 30, however the Bulldogs dominated the lane, scoring 36 of their 82 in the paint.

After jumping out to a quick 7-0 start, the Bulldogs allowed the Seahawks to turn two careless turnovers into baskets on the other end, cutting the Bryant lead to just three at the first media break. Tough defense by both teams made points hard to come by early on as Bryant maintained a slim, 11-6, edge nearly nine minutes into Saturday's action.

The Bulldogs continued their aggressive play, but Wagner would not allow the home team to pull away as the lead remained steady at five, 19-14, with seven minutes to go in the opening frame. From there, the Black and Gold opened a 7-2, run pushing the lead to 10 with under four minutes to play. Bryant would take its largest advantage of the half with 20 ticks left before the intermission off a pair of Shane McLaughlin (Old Tappan, N.J.) free throws, but Wagner's Josh Thompson would return the favor to send the teams into the break with a 36-26 score tilted toward the home side.

The trio of Dobbs, Francis and Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) led Bryant at the half, each with six points. Williams paced Wagner with a game-high 11 points to go along with his seven boards. Bryant shot an impressive 55.6 percent from the field in the first half while its counterpart hit just 6-of-30 in the frame (20 percent).

Neither team wasted any time trying to set the tone in the second stanza, as both Bryant and Wagner opened the final 20 minutes on fire from the field. As the frame progressed, the Bulldogs began to make their push as a pair of deep trifectas from Dobbs opened up a 53-37 Bryant advantage, helping to kickstart the run that took up much of the frame.

An O'Shea deep ball extended the Black and Gold advantage to 19 points, 58-39, with 11:29 left to play, and successful trips to the line from Dobbs and Starks pushed the Bryant edge to 23 points, as the hosts led, 62-39, nearly halfway through the second period. The Bulldogs would push their lead to a game-high 26 with 9:20 to play on a Starks 3-pointer and would hit that mark three more times before the final whistle, sending the Seahawks home with their third-straight loss after starting out league play 3-0.

The Bulldogs will be back on the road for their next contest, as Bryant travels to Sacred Heart Thursday, Jan. 24 for a 7 p.m. tip as it looks to keep its program-record winning streak alive on the road.

For all the latest news on the Bryant University men's basketball team, visit BryantBulldogs.com.