Pettway and Zouzoua fuel Bryant’s come-from-behind 79-70 victory over Yale Wednesday night

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's basketball had a difficult time keeping Yale out of the paint and off the scoreboard, having trailed by no less than five for nearly 30-straight  minutes, but an explosive 34-10 run to close out the game gave the hosts an exciting 79-70 Wednesday night at home.

"Given the opponent, a team that went to the NCAA Tournament a year ago and won a game and has a lot of talent, this is best win we've had on our home floor since we went Division I," said head coach Tim O'Shea.

The Bulldogs (3-5) enjoyed a monster game from sophomore Marcel Pettway (North Providence, R.I.), who had a season-best 25 points and seven boards. Classmate Nisre Zouzoua (Brockton, Mass.) netted 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds, freshman Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) netted 13 points and junior Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) tallied 10 points and seven boards in the win.

"Marcel really asserted himself tonight and certainly fed off the energy of the fans," said O'Shea. "If he can bring that kind of aggression and play every night, we'll be that much more dynamic and difficult to defend."

The Elis (2-4) got at least six points from eight different players, led by Sam Downey with 16 on 8-of-9 shooting. Miye Oni had nine points and eight boards, Anthony Dallier matched the point total with nine of his own to pair with a contest-best seven assists, while Blake Reynold, Austin Williams and Alex Copeland each scored eight points.  

Trailing by 15 points at the 12:08 mark of the second half, the Bulldogs went on a 19-6 run over the next 8:16 to cut the deficit to just two, 66-64. After Dallier and Zouzoua traded a pair of free throws, the visitors went back up by four on a Reynolds layin with under 3:00 to play.

It was the last field goal the Elis would hit and the last points they would score, as Pettway received a beautiful pass from Kostur, hit a layup plus the foul. Pettway converted the three-point play to cut the lead to just one with 2:06 remaining.

After another key stop, Bryant worked quickly the other way and Kostur was fouled sending him to the line for a one-and-one. He hit both attempts to give the hosts their first lead since the 12th second of the contest, making it 71-70 with 1:37 to go. The defense played possessed and fed off the energy of the crowd, as freshman Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.) got a steal and fed his classmate Grant on the break for a finger roll with 1:16 to go.     

The Bulldogs came up with another stop and Zouzoua found Pettway on the break to make it 75-70 with 33 seconds remaining, completely taking the visitors out of the game.

"Our ability to bounce back in the second half after being down double-digits really showed me a lot about the resolve of our team," said O'Shea.  

Yale built three separate double-digit leads in the first half, the largest coming at the 7:17 mark to cap off a 10-0 run which gave the visitors a 32-16 edge. Four-straight baskets in the paint from Pettway ignited a 12-2 Bryant run over the next 4:42 to cut the deficit to just six, 34-28.

The Bulldogs got as close as five on a Grant triple 54 seconds later, but the Elis scored five of the last seven points in the frame to take a 41-33 lead into halftime.

It took 2:32 for the first basket of the second half to fall, as Downey hit an uncontested layup. Grant answered with a triple, but the sides exchanged baskets over the two minutes before Trey Phills drained a three to give the Elis another double-digit advantage at the 15:09 mark, 52-41.

Yale utilized their final positive stretch, an 8-1 run from the 14:09 mark to that 12:08 mark to give it the 15-point edge. But Pettway and Zouzoua hit tough shots at the rim to start the 34-10 run along with excellent team defense.

Yale shot 53.8 percent from the floor (28-53), but hit just four of its final 12 shots, missed their final three triples and turned the ball over seven times in the final 12 minutes. Bryant went 10-for-16 in that stretch and drained 13 shots from the foul line, while committing one turnover and securing four steals.

The Bulldogs open up December with another tough roadtrip, first taking on Ohio University on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.