Pettway charts sixth double-double in Bulldogs’ 65-54 home loss to Colonials, Saturday afternoon

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's basketball team struggled to find its shot, and did not lead for the full 40 minutes, as Robert Morris made things difficult for the hosts in their 65-54 Northeast Conference loss at the Chace Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.

Freshman bigman Marcel Pettway (North Providence, R.I.) scored a contest-high 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting to go along with 10 boards, as he recorded his sixth double-double of the season for the Bulldogs (7-14, 4-4 NEC). Sophomore guard Hunter Ware (Powder Springs, Ga.) netted 15 points on a contest-best five made triples. Frosh Nisre Zouzoua (Brockton, Mass.) and junior forward Dan Garvin (Bethel, Conn.) scored eight and five points, respectively, while the ladder grabbed 10 caroms of his own. The Black and Gold shot 40 percent from the floor (22-55) and 31.6 percent from downtown (6-19).

Kavon Stewart and Elijah Minnie paced the Colonials (6-15, 4-4) with 18 and 13 points, respectively, as Minnie snared a game-high 12 boards and recorded all six of Robert Morris's blocks. Rodney Pryor added 10 points and six rebounds in the win, as the visitors shot 41.5 percent from the floor (22-53) and 34.8 percent from long range (8-23).  

The Bulldogs but found themselves tied, 6-6, at the 17:17 mark after a Zouzoua acrobatic alley-oop layup that was set up by Ware on the fast break. It would be the only tie of the game, as the Colonials created separation with a 10-0 run that was fueled by seven points from Minnie over a three minute stretch to give the visitors a 16-6 edge with 14 minutes to go in the first.  

The Black and Gold got back into the contest with an 8-0 run behind six points from Pettway to make it 16-14 at the 10:29 mark of the opening 20. The home side cut the deficit to just one point, 20-19, after a Pettway layup with 8:15 to play in the frame, but the Colonials expanded their lead once again with an 8-0 run of their own across the next two minutes. The Robert Morris lead got no higher than eight the rest of the half, and went into the intermission at six after a Garvin tipin at the buzzer made it 32-26.

The Bulldogs failed to get closer than five points and the Colonials failed to expand their advantage to more than eight over the first seven minutes of the second half. After a Stewart finger roll made it 40-32 in favor of the visitors, Pryor drained a corner trey in front of the Colonial bench to give them their largest lead to that point, 43-32, with 12:57 to play.

Pettway snared an offensive glass and laid it home on the putback with 10:16 to go, as it was the Bulldogs' first field goal in over six minutes, making it 43-34. It gave Bryant some life, as it flirted of a comeback by cutting the deficit to just four points, 45-41, following a Justin Brickman (San Antonio, Texas) layup on the fast break with 6:30 to play in the stanza.

The Colonials retorted the Bulldog resurgence with a 9-0 run over the next four minutes that was ignited by six-straight points from Stewart, giving the road squad its largest lead of the game, 54-41, at the 2:46 mark.

The Bulldogs got no closer than eight points from there, as they ultimately trailed for a total of 39:42 and suffered their third-straight NEC loss, dropping to 4-4 in the conference which ties them for fifth.

Up next for Bryant is a trip to Detrick Gymnasium in an NEC matchup against Central Connecticut State University on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The Bulldogs defeated the Blue Devils, 88-72, back on Jan. 2 in Smithfield.