Zouzoua’s late jumper pierces Knights in Bulldogs’ 73-72 overtime victory Saturday afternoon

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's basketball team led for 36:10 and trailed for just 1:34, but Fairleigh Dickinson kept it close all game long to force overtime, where sophomore Nisre Zouzoua (Brockton, Mass.) was put in position to hit an 18-footer with 2.4 seconds left to give his team a thrilling 73-72 Northeast Conference win.

Zouzoua paced the Bulldogs (8-15, 5-5 NEC) and all scorers with 25 points to go along with five rebounds. Having been limited to under 10 points in four-straight games, freshman Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) resurged with 19 points and five boards. Sophomore Marcel Pettway (North Providence, R.I.) netted eight points and grabbed a contest-best 11 rebounds and junior Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) tallied nine points and six rebounds.

Four Knights (10-11, 8-2) scored in double figures led by Darian Anderson with 19. Earl Potts Jr. dropped 18 on four triples, Mike Holloway scored 11 and corralled seven boards, and Stephan Jiggetts netted 11.

After a Jiggetts jumper gave the Knights one of their few leads, 43-42, at the 15:23 mark of the second half, the Bulldogs grabbed an advantage on the following possession thanks to a beautiful backdoor cut and basket from Zouzoua that Kostur facilitated. Bryant attained four separate six-point advantages over the next 11 minutes, the last one making it 65-59 with just 4:10 to play.

But Potts Jr. drained a big three from the corner on the next trip and the Knights trailed by no more than three from that point on. Down by two with under 40 seconds to go, Holloway got fouled at the end of a long possession and he hit a pair from the free throw line to knot things up at 68-68. The Bulldogs opted not to use their final timeout on the final trip of regulation, as Zouzoua got off a decent look from the left elbow, but the attempt went wide right as the horn sounded.

Scoring was at a premium in the extra stanza, as Grant converted an acrobatic layup for the first bucket two minutes in prior to adding a free throw 30 seconds later. Anderson blew by the Bryant defense with just 27 seconds to go for FDU's first basket, bringing it within one, 71-70.

The Bulldogs then had to call two timeouts near half court due to FDU's press and help defense, setting up Bryant with a critical inbounds and 13 seconds to play. The Knights' pressure forced a turnover which led to a Potts layup with nine seconds remaining, putting the visitors up by one. But Zouzoua received the ball and quickly got to his spot from just inside the arc, pulled up from near the top of the key and smoothly stroked in the biggest shot of his Bryant career with 2.4 to go. Anderson launched a half-court three at the buzzer but it went wide right off the backboard to give the hosts their third-straight win.

Bryant will look to keep its winning streak alive and rising in the league standings, as it goes back on the road for a battle with Mount St. Mary's Thursday at 7:00 p.m.