BULLDOGS RESTART NORTHEAST CONFERENCE PLAY WITH WEEKEND TRIP TO THE GARDEN STATE; TO TAKE ON FDU THURSDAY (7:30 P.M.) AND MONMOUTH SATURDAY (7 P.M.)
January 6, 2010
BULLDOGS RESTART NORTHEAST CONFERENCE PLAY WITH WEEKEND TRIP TO THE GARDEN STATE; BRYANT TO TAKE ON FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON THURSDAY (7:30 P.M.) AND MONMOUTH SATURDAY (7 P.M.)
Thursday (1/7) at FDU: Live
Stats
Saturday (1/9) at Monmouth: Live
Stats / Watch
Live
SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team hits the highway to close out a six-game road stretch this weekend, as the Bulldogs restart Northeast Conference action with bouts against Fairleigh Dickinson (Thurs., Jan. 7) and Monmouth (Sat., Jan. 9). The Bulldogs are still in search of their first win of the 2009-10 season.
THE PARTICULARS
Bryant returns to Northeast Conference action, where it will stay
for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, with a pair of weekend
bouts against league opponents Fairleigh Dickinson University
(Thursday, Jan. 7) and Monmouth University (Saturday, Jan. 9). The
Bulldogs have already played a pair of NEC contests this season,
coming up short against both Long Island University and St. Francis
(NY). The weekend trip rounds out a six-game road stretch, the
Bulldogs' longest of the season, as Bryant searches for its first
victory of the 2009-10 campaign.
THE SERIES
This weekend will be just the second meeting between Bryant and
both FDU and Monmouth, and sets up the Bulldogs' best scenario for
returning to Smithfield with a win. The Black and Gold earned
victories over both opponents last season in the programs'
first-ever meetings and posts all-time 1-0 records against both the
Knights and the Hawks.
In last year's outing at the Chace Athletic Center, the Bulldogs topped the Knights of FDU, 56-43, thanks to 18 points from now-senior Nick Pontes (New Bedford, Mass.). Bryant outrebounded FDU, 46-29, and shot 40.4 percent from the field. Bryant toppled the Hawks on the road at Boylan Gym on February 5, 2009, taking an 83-71 victory on the back of a 27-point outbreak from Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) and 21-point performance from Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y.), both senior captains in 2009-10. Parzych went 5-for-9 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the line while Gresham went 10-of-18 from the field and 4-for-4 from the stripe to lead four Bulldogs with double-digit point totals.
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
Fairleigh Dickinson enters Thursday's contest fresh off an 88-85
upset win over Sacred Heart University and have two victories so
far on the season. A quartet of Knights average double-digit
points, led by NEC Preseason All-Conference selection Sean
Baptiste's 13.7 points per game. Alvin Mofunanya (11.8 ppg),
Terence Grier (11.1 ppg) and Mike Scott (11.0 ppg) follow suit
while Mofunanya also leads the team in rebounding average (6.6 rpg)
and blocks (20). Scott, the only FDU player to start in all 14
games this season, quarterbacks the Knights' offense, dishing out
63 assists and averages a team-high 35.5 minutes per game. The team
shoots 37.9 percent as a team but isn't as strong from the line,
converting on just 62.7 percent of their more than 330 freebie
opportunities. The Knights and the Bulldogs have faced off against
one similar opponent so far this year, both falling to Army.
SCOUTING THE HAWKS (as of 1/5/10)
Travis Taylor leads 5-9 Monmouth with 16.6 points per game, while
Will Campbell (11.9 ppg) and Whitney Coleman (11.3 ppg) also help
share the scoring load. Taylor paces the team with 8.1 rebounds per
outing and shoots an impressive 53.0 percent from the field
(87-164), while the team hits at a 42.5 percent clip from the
floor. The Hawks are also dangerous beyond the arc, shooting 32.5
percent from long range, led by 40.8 percent accuracy (31-76) from
Justin Sofman. Taylor has 12 blocks on the season while James Hett
has collected 71 assists to go along with 18 steals.
BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Bryant is 0-2 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. The Bulldogs played St.
Francis (NY) two days later and despite leading with 2:00 to play,
fell to the Terriers in heartbreaking fashion, 54-48. Bryant
embarks on the remainder of its full league slate in 2010 after
going 6-8 against NEC members last season, taking wins over
Quinnipiac (twice), LIU, Fairleigh Dickinson, Saint Francis (PA)
and Monmouth. All-time against current Northeast Conference
opponents, the Bulldog basketball program is 34-62, having most
frequently played former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) members
Quinnipiac (16-35).
LAST TIME OUT
Despite being outscored by just a single point in the second frame,
the Bryant University men's basketball team couldn't overcome a
25-point halftime deficit, falling to Ivy League powerhouse Cornell
University, 75-49, in its final non-conference contest of the
season Saturday at Newman Arena.
Freshman Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) tied his career high and led the Bulldogs with 15 points off 6-of-9 shooting in the game, recording his second-consecutive double-digit scoring performance, while junior Michael Chroney (Nashua, N.H.) also recorded his second-straight double-figure game (10 points), marking his fourth in the last six contests. Chroney also paced the Bulldogs on the glass for the fourth-straight outing, pulling down six boards. Senior Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I.) grabbed a game-high four steals while classmate and fellow captain Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) dished out a team-high three assists.
The Bulldogs were outscored in the second frame just 31-30, shooting 39.3 percent (11-for-28) to Cornell's 41.4 percent (12-for-29) after allowing the Big Red (12-2) to convert on 57.7 percent of all shots in the first half. But Cornell did too much damage for the Bulldogs to remedy in the first 20 minutes, sending the visitors to the locker room with a 44-19 deficit at the half.
Cornell was on point from the starting whistle, opening the game on 7-0 run before Birrell put Bryant on the board with a layup 2:38 into the game. But the Big Red blew the matchup wide open over the next 7:31, proving to be lethal from long range. Highlighted by five treys over the stretch, a trio of them from Max Groebe, Cornell ripped off 23 points to Bryant's two, opening up a 30-4 gap with 9:41 still to play in the first frame. Bryant's basket came from Kondratyev and would be one of three for the rookie in the half, as he paced the Bulldogs with eight points at the break.
Cornell would connect on 8-of-11 attempts from long range in the opening 20 minutes, with Groebe going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. He led the game with 12 points (4-for-6) at the intermission and the Big Red would hold a 44-19 advantage at the break. But despite the deficit, Bryant had moments of greatness.
The Bulldogs shot well from the charity stripe, getting seven of their 19 first-half points from the line and going 7-for-8 in the opening session. A Kondratyev tip-in off a Chroney 3-point attempt from the wing put the Bulldogs into double-digits with 6:37 to play. And sophomore bigman Papa Lo (Thies, Senegal) would repeat that effort with just under a minute to play, scoring the visitors' last basket of the frame when he touched home a ball that bounced around the rim after frosh Raphael Jordan (Bel Air, Md.) drove aggressively through the lane to the hole for the layup.
But the Bulldogs' most impressive moment may have come at the 2:07 mark when Groebe, going in strong for a breakaway layup, was thwarted by rookie Erick Smith (Bel Air, Md.), who appeared seemingly out of nowhere to throw down a thundering rejection for his first career block. Nonetheless, Bryant struggled to score, hitting just 28.6 percent (6-21) from the field while the Big Red converted on 57.7 percent of their 26 first-half shots.
Kondratyev opened second-session scoring with a layup 14 ticks in to earn his 10th point of the game and third-career double-figure performance, and Chroney followed it up with a career first of his own, hitting from downtown at the 18-minute mark for the first time to move the score to 51-24 in favor of the home side.
But despite being outscored by just one point in the second half, 31-30, the visiting Bulldogs wouldn't be able to catch up as the minutes ticked down, falling 75-49 in their final non-conference game of the 2009-10 season.
Bryant would shoot 34.7 percent on the day to Cornell's 49.1 percent shooting performance and were outrebounded, 37-28. Ryan Wittman collected 19 total points on perfect 7-for-7 shooting (5-for-5 from 3-point range) to lead the game while Jeff Foote's eight boards were a game high
UP NEXT
Bryant returns home for the first time in seven games and first
time since early December to host its first-ever Northeast
Conference home game on January 14, 2010. The Bulldogs will welcome
in Sacred Heart for a 7:30 p.m. matchup at the Chace Athletic
Center.