BRYANT LOOKS TO AVENGE LOSS TO MONMOUTH SATURDAY AFTERNOON (3:30 P.M.)

January 30, 2010

BRYANT LOOKS TO AVENGE LOSS TO MONMOUTH SATURDAY AFTERNOON (3:30 P.M.) 

Game Notes / Live Stats / Watch Live / Listen Live

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team hosts Monmouth University Saturday afternoon at the Chace Athletic Center and will look for its first victory of the year. The contest, the second between the two teams this month, will be broadcast live on WOON 1240-AM and on www.bryantbulldogs.tv.

THE PARTICULARS
Bryant hosts the Hawks of Monmouth University in a Saturday afternoon Northeast Conference rematch starting at 3:30 p.m. The Bulldogs are still in search of their first win of the 2009-10 season and look to avenge a 67-62 road loss to the Hawks from early January.

THE SERIES
This is just the third meeting between Bryant and Monmouth, and the Bulldogs look to repeat last season's outing against the Hawks, a game the Black and Gold won on the road at Boylan Gym, 83-71. But it was Monmouth who took the opening bout of the 2009-10 season series with a closely contested 67-62 victory in West Long Branch, N.J. on Jan. 9.

In this season's earlier outing, rookie leading scorer Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) and senior captain Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) paced the Bulldogs with 15 and 14 points, respectively, while senior Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I.) and junior Michael Chroney (Nashua, N.H.) each pulled down six boards to lead Bryant on the glass. Chroney posted a game-best and career-high three blocks in the loss, also dishing out a career-best eight assists and two steals.

SCOUTING THE HAWKS
Travis Taylor leads 9-12 Monmouth with 16.7 points per game, while Will Campbell (11.9 ppg) and Whitney Coleman (10.2 ppg) also help share the scoring load. Taylor paces the team with 8.2 rebounds per outing and shoots an impressive 53.2 percent from the field (117-220), while the team hits at a 41.1 percent clip from the floor. The Hawks are also dangerous beyond the arc, shooting 32.1 percent from long range, led by 40.2 percent accuracy (35-87) from Coleman. Dutch Gaitley has a team-best 17 blocks on the season while James Hett has collected 102 assists to go along with 27 steals. 

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Bryant is 0-9 against its home conference in 2009-10, having played its first official game against the NEC back on December 3, 2009 when the Bulldogs fell to LIU, 62-46. All-time against current Northeast Conference opponents, the Bulldog basketball program is 34-69, having most frequently played former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) members Quinnipiac (16-37). Bryant continues to play its full league slate in 2010 after going 6-8 against the NEC last season, taking wins over Quinnipiac (twice), LIU, Fairleigh Dickinson, Saint Francis (PA) and Monmouth.

LAST TIME OUT
Terence Grier and Sean Baptiste each scored 20 points to lead visiting Fairleigh Dickinson to a 67-55 win over Bryant University in Northeast Conference men's basketball action Thursday night.

The Knights shot a sizzling 51.2 percent from the field and got a bulk of their points from the free throw line, making 16-of-23 attempts and making 7-of-15 shots from behind the 3-point line. Baptiste finished the game going 8-of-15 from the floor including 4-of-6 from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs got off to a slow start, falling behind, 7-0, out of the gate, but a dunk by sophomore Papa Lo (Thies, Senegal) and a 3-point field goal by Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I.) (12 points) pulled the Bulldogs to within one, 13-12, midway through the first half.

Fairleigh Dickinson would go up, 19-12, but the Bulldogs kept it close, finally taking its first lead of the game, 24-22, on another trey from Birrell with 4:44 to go before halftime.

A Lo basket late kept the Bulldogs ahead, but the Knights closed out the half with a layup and free throw by John Galvin, sending the visitors into the locker room up at the break, 29-27.

Bryant matched the Knights offensively for much of the early part of the second frame, and Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) scored on a drive in the paint after an offensive rebound to give the Bulldogs back the lead, 38-36.

But FDU responded as Grier calmly sank a three from the right to start a 10-0 spurt that put the Knights up, 46-38. But the Bulldogs weren't done as Kondratyev answered with a three of his own and Barry Latham (Taunton, Mass.) scored on a nice drive in the lane to get the Bulldogs back within five, 48-43, with just over eight minutes left to play.

Baptiste, the Knights' leading scorer and No. 11 in the NEC in scoring, drained a three from the right side and moments later hit a deep basket to put FDU up, 56-46, with just over two minutes remaining.

Latham equaled a season-high with 16 points in the game while Kondratyev reached double figures for the seventh time in the last nine games with 11 points to go with a career-high eight rebounds.

"We're not far away at all," said head coach Tim O'Shea. "When is it going to turn? You just have to keep persevering. I had no problem with our effort tonight. We played really hard and we were very competitive."

Bryant shot just 35 percent from the floor on the night and made 9-of-33 attempts from 3-point land.

"[We] really are much better team than [we] were months ago, but it's just getting over that hump," added O'Shea. "We still have six of nine left at home, and I think that type of effort you saw tonight, we're going to get some wins."

UP NEXT
Bryant stays at home to close out its longest homestand of the season, hosting its third-straight game at the Chace Athletic Center with a 7:30 p.m. bout against Central Connecticut on Thursday, Feb. 4, the first of consecutive contests against the Blue Devils.

BRYANT COACHING STAFF TO PARTICIPATE IN COACHES vs. CANCER SATURDAY vs. MONMOUTH
The Bryant University men's basketball coaching staff will show its support of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the American Cancer Society by participating in the 2010 Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers awareness weekend. Saturday against Monmouth, head coach Tim O'Shea and his staff will don sneakers with their regular game suits to help unite coaches across the country in the common effort to raise awareness for the fight against cancer.

At least one-third of cancer deaths could be avoided with a healthy diet and regular exercise. By wearing sneakers, our coaches are helping to education people about the fight and about the importance that nutrition and physical activity plays in reducing the risk of the disease. Together, we can save lives.