Starks game winner vaults Bulldogs over Pioneers, 48-46, Sunday in Denver

DENVER – Senior guard Dyami Starks (Duluth, Minn.) scored five points in the final 22 seconds of the game – including a game-winning pull-up jumper with 1.3 ticks left on the clock – to lead the Bryant University men's basketball team to a 48-46 win over the University of Denver Sunday afternoon at Magness Arena.

With 57 seconds left to play, Marcus Byrd converted a pair of free throws to give the Pioneers (5-7) a 44-41 edge over the Bulldogs (3-5). Rookie guard Hunter Ware (Powder Springs, Ga.) (6 points) made two of his own from the stripe 15 seconds later to pull Bryant within one, but two more freebies from Cam Griffin gave the hosts a three-point edge with just 39 seconds left, 46-43.

From the baseline on the ensuing inbounds pass, Ware found the hands of Starks, and the senior captain drained his sixth triple of the game from the top of the arc with 21.3 left to play to knot the score at 46-46.

Junior point guard Shane McLaughlin (Old Tappan, N.J.) would take a charge from Brett Olson (8 points) on the following possession to give the Black and Gold back the ball with 11.5 left in regulation, and Starks would capitalize on the Pioneer mistake, dropping in the decisive jumper from the right side with 1.3 ticks on the clock for the 48-46 victory.

Starks finished the game with 21 points for his fourth 20-point outing in the last five contests. The Bulldogs' leading scorer went 7-of-18 from the field with a 6-of-13 mark from long range as the only Bryant player to record double digits. McLaughlin finished the game with eight points, three assists and two steals, while he and sophomore forward Dan Garvin (Bethel, Conn.) (7 points) paced the team on the glass with five rebounds. Griffin led Denver with 14 points, eight of which came from the stripe in a perfect free throw effort, and a game-best six boards.

After not getting to the line at all in the first half, the Pioneers were a perfect 19-for-19 from the charity stripe in the second. Bryant struggled from the line, converting just 8-of-14 (.571) on the day and 5-of-10 in the second frame. The Bulldogs shot 40 percent from the floor to Denver's 35.1 percent clip.

The hosts converted just 1-of-13 from long range, while Bryant benefitted from eight 3-pointers in the victory. The Bulldogs also won the battle on the boards, 29-21. Both sides struggled with turnovers, with the Black and Gold committing a season-high 19 to Denver's 14.

The Bulldogs and the Pioneers combined for just six points through nearly the game's eight opening minutes, and the scoring wouldn't pick up much steam until inside the final six minutes of the first half. Bryant would get a layup from Garvin with 12:22 on the clock, followed by a Starks 3-pointer less than 30 seconds later. Two McLaughlin free throws gave Bryant a 9-4 lead, and that would hold all the way through the 7:11 mark, when Griffin snapped a more than 10-minute scoring drought for the hosts.

Denver would tie the game at 10-10 with 4:52 on the clock, but Bryant rattled off nine straight from there on long balls from senior Joe O'Shea (Burlington, Vt.) and Starks (2) for a 19-10 advantage that would stick entering the final minute of the stanza.

After another Griffin layup, Ware got himself on the board with a corner three in the final second, sending Bryant into the halftime break with a 22-12 lead.

Second-half scoring started off slow again through the first five minutes, but the Pioneers would gain some momentum soon after, hitting their first and only three of the game with 14:53 on the clock out of the hands of Bryant Rucker (11 points). The home side closed the gap to four, 29-25, with 12 minutes left in the contest, and after O'Shea and Garvin each picked up their fourth fouls, Griffin would tie the score from the stripe, 31-31, with 10 to go.

Denver took over the lead for the first time since the opening three minutes of the game with 6:21 remaining thanks to a pair of freebies from Rucker, 35-33. The teams would trade leads over the next two minutes before Byrd gave the hosts a 40-36 edge at the 4:20 mark, converting an and-one for his first points of the game.

Starks returned the favor with a three of his own, and McLaughlin put the visitors up, 41-40, with a layup with 2:20 to go, setting up the deciding final minute of action in the eventual Bulldog victory.

The Bulldogs will now break for the holidays and return to action on New Year's Eve back in Smithfield, R.I., when they host Dartmouth at the Chace Athletic Center at 1:00 p.m.