Men's Basketball Loses to #7 Bentley 61-49

BRYANT MEN'S BASKETBALL

December 5, 2006

Men's Basketball Loses to #7 Bentley 61-49

Waltham, Mass. - The Bryant Men's Basketball team dropped a hard-fought game to seventh-ranked Bentley College Tuesday night 61-49 at the Dana Center in Waltham, Mass.

Chris Burns (Merrimack, NH) led the Bulldogs with 14 points, including four three-pointers, while Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange, NJ) added seven, all of them coming from the free throw line.

The Bulldogs trailed 29-24 at the half but came out firing in the second half as Nick Pontes (New Bedford, Mass.) nailed three straight shots, including a dunk that gave Bryant the 30-29 lead at the 17:47 mark in the second half. However, Bentley's Nate Fritsch immediately responding with the game's next eight points to push the Falcons' lead back to seven at 37-30.

Pontes finished with eight points.

The Falcons took over inside with the clock ticking down as Jeff Holmes scored 17 points in the second half, all of them in the paint or on free throws.

Bentley was the top-ranked team in the preseason Northeast-10 poll, while Bryant was picked second.

The Bulldogs (4-3, 3-2 NE-10) will return home Saturday and welcome Southern New Hampshire to the Chace Center at 3:30 p.m.