Cardenas' career day, 22-0 run fuel win over The Mount

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Junior Juan Cardenas (Medellin, Colombia) scored a career-high 19 points, all five starters were in double figures and the Bulldogs allowed a season-low in points as the Bryant University men's basketball team posted an 81-58 win over Mount St. Mary's on Senior Day at the Chace Athletic Center.

Junior SaBastian Townes (Chesapeake, Va.) led all scorers with 20 points, sinking four of Bryant's 13 three-pointers in the contest. The 23-point margin of victory was Bryant's largest against a Division I opponent since 2015.

GAME INFORMATION
Bryant 81, Mount St. Mary's 58
Records: Bryant (10-17, 7-9 NEC), Mount St. Mary's (8-21, 5-11 NEC)
Location: Chace Athletic Center (Smithfield, R.I.)

KEY MOMENT

• The Bulldogs ran off a 22-0 spurt in the first half, holding the Mountaineers scoreless for over nine minutes to build a 27-5 lead.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• A three-pointer from Cardenas and two free throws from freshman Joe Kasperzyk (New Haven, Conn.) were answered by the Mountaineers to make the score 5-5 at the first media timeout.
• Bryant took off out of the stoppage, rattling off a 22-0 run and holding Mount St. Mary's off the board for a span of 9:18 to pull ahead 27-5 with 6:43 to play in the half.
• The Bulldogs took a 40-18 lead into the half, outrebounding the Mountaineers 27-13 in the opening 20 minutes.
• Bryant would push the advantage to 28 on a Cardenas three that made the score 56-28 with 11:53 to go.
• A 12-0 Mount run brought the Mountaineers back within 16 at 70-54 with 3:15 to play.
• Bryant scored the final seven points of the game, including a three-shot foul on which Townes made all three from the line.

STATS

• Townes poured in a game-high 20 points on 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc.
• Cardenas scored 19 points on 7-of-12 overall, 3-of-5 from three and added five rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
• Kasperzyk added 18 points, five assists and four rebounds.
• Junior Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) scored 14 points and grabbed a season-high seven rebounds while collecting three steals.
• Redshirt-senior Byron Hawkins (Fort Washington, Md.) scored 10 points on Senior Day.
• Bryant shot 45.9 percent for the game, while Mount shot 39.3 percent.
• The Bulldogs outrebounded the Mountaineers 43-28, good for Bryant's most boards this season.

GAME NOTES

• Bryant improves to 9-11 in the Division I era and 9-13 all-time against Mount St. Mary's.
• Townes pulled even with Joe O'Shea for 10^th in Bryant's Division I scoring history with 863 career points.
• Cardenas has scored 12 or more points in six of seven February contests.
• Bryant's 23-point margin of victory and plus-15 rebounding margin were both the Bulldogs' best against a Division I opponent since an 80-54 win over Saint Francis U, Jan. 8, 2015.
• The 13 made three-pointers matched a season-high.
• Saturday's attendance of 1,171 was Bryant's second-largest crowd of the season behind a turnout of 1,184, Jan. 5 vs. LIU Brooklyn.
• Bryant honored three seniors in a pregame ceremony – Hawkins, Taylor McHugh (Centreville, Va.) and head manager Michael Rosenthal (Sioux City, Iowa), who dressed for the contest.

UP NEXT
Bryant travels to Brooklyn for the final weekend of the regular season, beginning Thursday at St. Francis Brooklyn. The game is currently slated for a 7 p.m. tip on NEC Front Row but is eligible to be flexed to CBS Sports Network as the conference's wild card game.

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