January 28, 2009
BULLDOGS HIT THE ROAD FOR TWO IN PENNSYLVANIA; TAKE ON ROBERT MORRIS THURSDAY NIGHT AT THE SEWALL CENTER
UPDATE
The Bryant University men's basketball team hits the road
Thursday evening in search of their first Division I win away from
home as they travel to Moon Township, Pennsylvania to battle the
first place Colonials of Robert Morris. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. This is
first meeting all-time between the two programs. Their last time
out, the Bulldogs grabbed a big, 57-55, last-second upset win over
Long Island at the Chace Center on Saturday. In a tie game with 8.7
seconds left, sophomore guard Adam Paryzch took the ball from the
left wing into the paint and left a great pass off for Andrew
Lyell, who laid the ball in with 2.1 seconds left to lift Bryant to
their fourth victory and second in the last three games. Parzych
had a career game, scoring a career-high 12 points, dishing out
three assists and grabbing two boards, while Lyell ended with seven
points five rebounds and five assists in 36 minutes. The Bulldogs
had their best first half of the season, shooting a season-best
56.5 percent from the floor while holding Long Island to just six
field goals, giving Bryant a commanding, 34-17, lead at the break,
its biggest halftime lead of the year. Leading scorer Cecil
Gresham was able to find his shooting touch in the contest as well,
scoring a game-high 18 points, 11 in the second half, on
six-for-nine shooting including three-of-five from behind the arc.
THE ROBERT MORRIS COLONIALS
Robert Morris University plays host to the Bulldogs
Thursday night in the first meeting all-time between the two
programs. The Colonials come into the game holding sole possession
of first place in the Northeast Conference and are on a red-hot
seven game win streak. Last time out, junior forward Rob Robinson
scored a game-high 20 points to lead Robert Morris past Fairleigh
Dickinson, 74-40. During their win streak, the Colonials are
scoring a blistering 79.4 points per game, including putting up 104
against Wagner on Jan. 17. Preseason NEC all-conference selection
Jeremy Chappell leads the attack with 16.9 points and 6.8 rebounds
per game. Robinson and Jimmy Langhurst are also averaging double
figures with 11.6 and 10.1points per game respectively. Robert
Morris is coached by the 2008 NEC Coach of the Year, Mike Rice, who
brought the Colonials to the NIT last season, posting a 26-8 record
in his first year at the helm.
BULLDOGS UPSET LONG ISLAND
Adam Parzych had a career-high 12 points along with three
assists, but none were bigger than his dish to Andrew Lyell for the
game-winning lay-in with 2.1 seconds left as Bryant defeated Long
Island, 57-55, at the Chace Center Saturday afternoon. Bryant
scored a season-high 34 first half points while surrendering a
season-low 17 points to take control of the game in the first half.
The Blackbirds fought-back to even the game late in the second
half, but Bryant was able to come away with their fourth victory,
thanks in large part to 18 points from junior Cecil Gresham who
went six-for-nine from the floor in the game.
BRYANT AND ROBERT MORRIS
This is first meeting all-time between the Bulldogs and
the Colonials.
ON SECOND THOUGHT
The Bulldogs are averaging 7.9 points more per game in the
second half than the first half this season, scoring 31.1 points
while shooting 40 percent from the floor and 32.2 percent from
three point land. In the first half, Bryant has had its struggles,
shooting at a clip of 35.5 percent from the floor and just 29
percent from behind the arc while averaging 23.2 points. The
Bulldogs have gone into the locker room with double-digit deficits
15 times this season. Bryant has also minimized the rebounding
differential in the second half, going from a -5.4 differential in
the first half to -3.0 in the second half. Bryant has outscored or
tied its opponents in six of the last seven games in the second
half, including beating Yale 50-24, Cornell 28-26, Sacred Heart
41-32, Fairleigh Dickinson 31-19 and NJIT 36-30, while tying Brown
31-31. Last time out, Bryant flipped the script and had its best
first half of the season, outscoring LIU 34-17 while shooting 55.6
percent from the floor and outrebounding the Blackbirds 17-11.
BRYANT VS THE NEC
The Bulldogs, who will become full members of the
Northeast Conference in the 2012-2013 season, have posted a 3-3
record against NEC opponents, including going 2-1 at home. Bryant
has grabbed wins against Quinnipiac (59-50), Fairleigh Dickinson
(56-43) and Long Island (57-55) while falling to Mount St. Mary's
(68-44), Sacred Heart (73-64) and on the road against Long Island
(76-61). The team has averaged 56.8 points per game, shooting 39.5
percent from the floor against the Conference, while limiting
opponents to 60.8 points and 40.7 percent shooting. Against non-NEC
opponents, Bryant has allowed 69.9 points and 46.9 percent shooting
while scoring 53.2 points on 37.1 percent from the floor.
LONG RANGE MISSILE
Guard Pete Lambert (Cumberland, R.I. / Cumberland) had a
solid three-game stretch against Yale, LIU and Brown, going
12-for-21 from behind the arc and averaging 15 points per game. The
senior went 3-7 from downtown in a comeback win against Yale,
scoring a team-high 16 points. He followed that up with a 6-8
performance from the outside against LIU, connecting on five second
half three's to lead the team with 18 points before hitting three
more from downtown against Brown to score 11 points and record
double figures for the third-straight game. He hit six three's
against NJIT on Jan. 21, scoring a team-high 21 points. The senior
is second on the team in three's made for this year with 34 and
third in percentage, shooting 33.7 percent from behind the arc.
HOME SWEET HOME
Bryant has shot 41.6 percent from the floor and 31.2
percent from behind the arc in its seven home games this season,
winning three of those, compared to just a 35 field goal percentage
and 29.6 percent three-point shooting on the road. The Bulldogs
have also done a better job on the boards at home, getting
outrebounded 32.3 to 30.1 at home while the margin climbs to 40 to
28.3 on the road. Overall, the team has been outscored 71.7 to 51.7
on the road but just 61.9 to 58.1 at home.
TAKING AIM AT THE RECORD BOOK
Cecil Gresham moved up to sixth all-time in career made
three-pointers after hitting two at Long Island on Jan. 7, giving
him 103 for his career, passing Cullen McCarthy.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs play their second of a four-game road trip as
they head to Loretto, Pennsylvania to take on St. Francis (PA) on
Saturday night.
