BRYANT LOOKS FOR WIN AGAINST ST. FRANCIS (NY); GAME TELEVISED ON MSG/FOX COLLEGE SPORTS (12 P.M.)

December 4, 2009  

BRYANT LOOKS FOR WIN AGAINST ST. FRANCIS (NY); GAME TELEVISED ON MSG/FOX COLLEGE SPORTS (12 P.M.)

Game Notes / Listen / Watch / Live Stats

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team continues 2009-10 Northeast Conference play Saturday when it takes on St. Francis (NY) in Brooklyn, N.Y. The game, to tip off at noon, will be televised on MSG and Fox College Sports, and will be tape-delayed on Cox Sports-3 for Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut to play Sunday at 7 p.m.  

THE PARTICULARS
The Bulldogs play their second Northeast Conference contest in three days Saturday when they take on St. Francis (NY) at the Pope Center. Bryant is still in search of its first win of the 2009-10 season. Tipoff is slated for 12 p.m.  

THE SERIES
Bryant and St. Francis (NY) have faced off just once before, with the Bulldogs suffering an 82-66 setback at the Chace Athletic Center on February 19, 2009. Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) led three Bulldogs in double-digits with 20 points while the Terriers' Stefan Perunicic notched a game-high 23 points.  

SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
Three Terriers lead St. Francis (NY) averaging double-digit scoring on the year, paced by 18.3 points per game from Ricky Cadell. Akeem Bennett (14.2) and Kayode Ayeni (12.0) also share in carrying much of the scoring load, while five Terriers shoot 40 percent of better from the floor this season, despite a 1-5 overall record. Stepfan Perunicic is strong from 3-point range, leading the team with 36.1 percent conversion (13-of-35) while Bennett leads the team in rebounds (5.3 rpg), assists (21) and steals (15) on the year. As a team, the Terriers have just 28 blocks, led by eight from Herman Wrice, but average 4.3 points per game better than the Bulldogs. The two teams have played one common opponent so far this season, both taking on Brown at home and both falling to the Bears by less than five points.  

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Bryant is 0-1 against its home conference in 2009-10, having played its first official game against the NEC on Thursday, when the Bulldogs fell to LIU. The Bulldogs will play a full NEC slate in 2009-10 after going 6-8 against NEC members last season, getting wins over Quinnipiac (twice), LIU, Fairleigh Dickinson, Saint Francis (PA) and Monmouth. All-time against current Northeast Conference members, the Bulldog basketball program is 34-61, having most frequently played former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) members Quinnipiac (16-35).  

LAST TIME OUT
Despite a career-high nine blocks from sophomore Papa Lo (Thies, Senegal) and a career-best 15 points from freshman Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine), the Bryant University men's basketball team fell to Long Island University, 62-46, in its first official Northeast Conference contest Thursday night at the Wellness Center.  

Lo's nine rejections nearly equal his total blocks on the season entering Thursday's matchup (12) and rank second all-time in the Bryant record books for blocks in a single game. Junior Barry Latham (Taunton, Mass.) and senior Nick Pontes (New Bedford, Mass.) chipped in two and one blocks, respectively, giving Bryant a season-high 12 sendbacks on the night, just one shy of tying the program record.

Kondratyev's 15 points were a game high as well and came on 6-of-12 shooting from the fiel(1-for-2 from 3-point land). The rookie also tied a team-best with five rebounds.  

Neither team led by more than five points through the first frame, with Bryant racing out to an 8-3 edge in the first 1:11 after a jumper from Latham and the first trey of the night from senior guard Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y.). Long Island took its first lead, 13-12, just over 6:30 into the contest and the teams would one-up each other for the remainder of the half, the lead changing hands five times through the first 20 minutes.  

The Blackbirds took a five-point advantage of their own, 27-22, as the clock ticked under 6:30. But Bryant pulled quickly back to within one, 29-28, compliments of five-straight Kondratyev points over nearly three minutes. That would be the last Bryant point of the half, while LIU's Jamal Olasewere would convert on a three-point play in the waning seconds to send the teams to the locker rooms with a 32-28 tally in the home side's favor.  

The Bulldogs would shoot 34.4 percent through the first session, led by 11 points from Kondratyev. But the score wouldn't have been quite so close without the stellar defensive efforts of Lo, who rejected five of his nine total blocks in the first half.   But when Bryant came out a bit slow to open the second, the Blackbirds took advantage, running their four-point halftime lead to 15 just five minutes in. Both sides would go cold mid-frame, though, and Kondratyev ended a 3:48 Bulldog scoreless streak when he muscled out a close-range basket with 7:16 to play. Lo then narrowed the deficit to 51-39 with a tip-in on the next possession.  

The Bulldogs held LIU scoreless for a 5:28 span in the middle of the closing frame - keeping them without a field goal for 6:27 - but Bryant's offense couldn't get going in transition, keeping the visitors in a double-digit hole throughout the half. In the end, despite posting a season-high 12 blocks and a season-low 11 turnovers, the Bulldogs would fall, 62-46, in their first official Northeast Conference game.  

Bryant shot 31.6 percent on the day to the Blackbirds' 36.1 percent. Both teams dished out 11 assists while Bryant recorded nine steals. LIU won the battle on the glass, 50-31, but turned the ball over three more times than its opponent. Olasewere and Kenny Onyechi led the Blackbirds with 13 points apiece, while Olasewere (13 points, game-high 11 rebounds) and Jaytornah Wisseh (10p, 10r) each collected a double-double in the outing. The loss also came without the help of Bryant leading scorer Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.), who was sidelined by a knee injury.  

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs take a break from Northeast Conference action for their next six outings and will first travel to New Haven, Conn. for a rematch against Yale. Bryant took a 69-58 win over the Bulldogs from Connecticut in last year's contest in Smithfield, R.I.  

LO GETS HIGH
Papa Lo's nine blocks against Long Island Thursday night set a new career mark for the sophomore transfer from UMass, his previous career number sitting at six rejections in a game. The nine sendbacks were also good for No. 2 all-time in the Bryant record books for blocks in a single game (record set at 11 by Mike Williams on Dec. 1, 2002) and vault the first-year Bryant bigman to the top of the conference standings with 21 total blocks on the season. Lo's nine blocks against the Blackbirds paced a season-high 12 for the Bulldogs as a team, falling just one rejection shy of tying an all-time program record.  

KONDRATYEV SETS CAREER MARK AGAINST BLACKBIRDS
With a game-high 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor, rookie Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) set a new career high for points in a game. Kondratyev, who also went 1-for-2 from 3-point land and 2-for-2 from the line, also pulled down a team-best five rebounds in the outing with a steal in 26 minutes of action.  

TAKING A KNEE
Bryant senior captain and leading scorer Cecil Gresham has missed the last two contests, sidelined by a knee injury that will leave him questionable for Saturday's matchup against the Terriers. Gresham started in the first five games of the season and will be a game-time decision for the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon.  

FREEING UP THE TOP SPOT
While it is still early in the season, statistically speaking the Bulldogs are tops in the league when it comes to shooting freebies. Bryant converts on 74.4 percent of all opportunities from the charity stripe (61-of-82) and is led by freshman Raphael Jordan, who is 13-of-14 (.929) from the line.  

TV STARS
The Bryant men will make a pair of appearances on regional television this season. The Bulldogs will appear on Fox College Sports (FCS), Madison Square Garden TV (MSG) and Fox Sports Network-Pittsburgh, also appearing on the BIG TEN Network as well as ESPN Full Court. Bryant will first appear in living rooms when it travels to Brooklyn, N.Y. on December 5 (12 p.m. start) for a conference game against St. Francis (NY), where Fox College Sports and MSG will carry the broadcast. FSN-Pittsburgh, FCS and ESPN Full Court will be on hand at the Chace Athletic Center when the league opponents Bryant and Saint Francis (PA) meet on February 11, 2009 (7 p.m. start). Both games will be carried locally on Cox Sports-3 in Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut. Bryant will also appear on the BIG-TEN Network for the second year in a row when the team travels to Indiana on Dec. 28 for a 9 pm (EST) game against the Hoosiers. Last year, Bryant made its debut on the BIG-10 Network when the Bulldogs took on the University of Iowa.