Bulldogs win third straight, defeat Red Flash, 79-75, Saturday

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Behind 13 triples and a season-high nine blocks and despite a late charge by Saint Francis U. to tie the game, the Bryant University men's basketball team took care of business at the free throw line in the final minutes to earn its third-straight win, 79-75, Saturday at the Chace Athletic Center.

The Red Flash (12-15, 9-7 Northeast Conference) tied the game at 70-70 with 2:42 to play, but the Bulldogs (11-18, 8-8) never gave up the lead in the waning minutes. Despite not heading to the line until the 4:43 mark in the second half and being outscored, 16-6, from the chalk, Bryant went 6-for-8 from the line down the stretch to hold on for the win.

Following an intentional foul by the Red Flash (12-15, 9-7) with 18 seconds left in the game, freshman Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) knocked down a pair of freebies and got possession back for the hosts. The visitors immediately fouled, sending classmate Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.) to the line, where he hit 1-of-2. Bryant's five-point lead was quickly cut to two, 77-75, after Jamaal King knocked down a deep three with 11 seconds to play, but with 10 ticks left, sophomore Nisre Zouzoua (Brockton, Mass.) put the game out of reach with his own pair from the line, securing the Bulldogs' 79-75 victory.

Bryant went 13-for-32 from 3-point land, hitting nine in the first half alone. Grant led the sharpshooting with a 4-for-7 mark from deep, while the team finished at 40.6 percent from behind the arc. The Bulldogs outshot the Red Flash in all categories, connecting on 43.9 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from the line, and the team's current three-game winning streak ties its season best.

Grant also topped the Bulldogs' scoring efforts, finishing with 18 points off 6-for-10 shooting from the floor. Zouzoua put up 13 points, stroking three from downtown in 38 minutes of play. Senior Dan Garvin (Bethel, Conn.) rounded out the Bulldogs' double-figure scorers, finishing with 12 points off a 6-for-9 mark from the field. Ndugba added nine points and nine rebounds while dishing out five assists. Zouzoua led the team with a career-high four of the team's nine blocks.

The Bulldogs came out hot, taking a 13-6 lead after knocking down three triples in the opening four minutes of play. Grant kicked off the Bulldogs' 3-point bonanza before junior Hunter Ware (Powder Springs, Ga.) and Zouzoua each drained one. Following a 6-2 run by the Red Flash, Grant hit his second three of the game to give the Black and Gold a six-point edge, 18-12, with 11:55 to go in the first.

Out of the second media timeout, sophomore Marcel Pettway (North Providence, R.I.) kept the Bulldogs' possession alive, coming up with back-to-back offensive rebounds before finding Grant for the foul line jumper. Keith Braxton scored four-straight points for the Red Flash, including the one-handed slam in transition, but Zouzoua answered with one from deep to push the lead back to seven, 23-16, with 8:45 to play. Grant gave Bryant its largest advantage of the half, 31-22, after connecting on his fourth three of the game with 5:34 to go in the frame.

As the clock ticked under three to play, the sides traded baskets from behind the arc, as sophomore Taylor McHugh's (Centreville, Va.) triple was countered by a three from Braxton. Junior Gus Riley (Nelson, New Zealand) got in on the long ball frenzy, knocking down a wide-open triple to give Bryant back a six-point edge, 36-33, with 1:52 on the clock. Isaiah Blackmon's jumper cut the Bulldogs' lead to two, 39-37, heading into the halftime break.

The Bulldogs opened the second with a three from junior Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia), but the Red Flash went on an 11-5 run from there, finding their first lead of the game since the opening 90 seconds of the contest, 48-47, with 15:40 on the clock. Zouzoua would recapture the lead, 50-48, with a triple on the next basket, and 1:20 later, McHugh would dish it down low to Garvin, who threw home the flush to help the hosts go up by four.

The Bulldogs' lead would grow to as many as five, but a 14-4 SFU run produced a 10-point swing that would see the Red Flash overtake the home team and get their own five-point edge, 67-62, with 7:05 left to play. Georgios Angelou (9 points) drilled one from behind the arc to tie the contest, 60-60, before Braxton's layup put the visitors up by two with 8:22 remaining. A Blackman triple and Braxton layup gave the Red Flash their largest advantage of the contest, 67-62.

Ndugba pulled the Bulldogs within one, 68-67, after converting the three-point play from the line with 4:43 to go, a shot that marked the first trip to the line for any Bryant player in the game. But after Zouzoua tied the game from the stripe seconds later, the Bulldogs wouldn't trail again, outscoring the Red Flash, 11-7, in the final four minutes to hold onto the 79-75 win.

Braxton led all scorers with 21 points and picked up the only double-double of the day (11 rebounds), while Blackmon finished the day with 15 points and Josh Nebo added nine more (9 rebounds). Nebo also posted a trio of blocks while King dished out a side-high four assists. The Red Flash shot 41.5 percent from the floor on the day with a 5-of-17 mark from long range.

The Bulldogs finished its four-game home stand with a 3-1 record and look to build on their current win streak in their final regular-season road game of the season Thursday night at Wagner College (7 p.m.).