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BULLDOGS LOOK TO REPEAT LAST YEAR'S WIN OVER YALE WEDNESDAY (7:30 PM)
Posted: Dec 08, 2009

BULLDOGS LOOK TO REPEAT LAST YEAR'S WIN OVER YALE WEDNESDAY (7:30 PM)

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December 8, 2009

BULLDOGS LOOK TO REPEAT LAST SEASON'S WIN OVER YALE, TRAVEL TO NEW HAVEN WEDNESDAY FOR 7:30 P.M. MATCHUP

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SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team takes a break from Northeast Conference action to take on Yale University on Wednesday in New Haven, Conn. The Bulldogs are still in search of their first win of the season and beat the Bulldogs from Connecticut last season, 69-58. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.

THE PARTICULARS
The Bulldogs take a break from Northeast Conference action for the next six games and will travel to Yale University for their next contest. Bryant visits New Haven, Conn. for a rematch of the teams' 2008-09 faceoff, a game the Bulldogs won, 69-58, on January 2, 2009 at the Chace Athletic Center. Wednesday's game will be played in John J. Lee Amphitheater with tipoff slated for 7:30 p.m.

BATTLE OF THE BULLDOGS: THE SERIES
The Bulldogs of Bryant and Yale have faced off just once before in the history of the programs, with Bryant taking a 69-58 victory at the Chace Athletic Center on Jan. 2, 2009. The now graduated Peter Lambert led the Rhode Island Bulldogs with 16 points with current team members Chris Birrell (14) and Nick Pontes (15) and Barry Latham (14) also chipping in double-digit point efforts. Birrell and Latham each dished out a game-high five assists while Birrell pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.

SCOUTING THE YALE BULLDOGS
Yale is led by a pair of double-figure points scorers in nine-game starters Alex Zampier (19.0 ppg) and Jordan Gibson (11.0 ppg). Gibson, who is also third in rebounds, pulling down 5.4 per contest, leads the Bulldogs with 10 blocks while Zampier has 25 thefts and is shooting 92.9 percent from the line. Paul Nelson paces Yale on the glass, averaging 6.4 boards per outing, and is shooting 50 percent from the floor with limited looks per game. Gibson's 48.6 percent accuracy from the field (35-of-72) truly leads the Bulldogs while Zampier has collected 20 of the team's 36 made 3-point field goals. So far this season, the two Bulldog teams have faced off against just one similar opponent, with both sides falling to Army on the road earlier this season.

BRYANT vs. THE IVY LEAGUE
Wednesday's game will be the third of five matchups against Ivy League opponents throughout the 2009-10 campaign. Bryant has already played Harvard (77-51 L) and Brown (70-68 L) this season in back-to-back contests and this game will be the first of another set of consecutive Ivy League contests and the Bulldogs welcome Columbia to the Chace Athletic Center on Saturday. Bryant will wrap up against Ancient Eight opponents with a trip to Cornell on January 2, 2010.

The Bulldogs have faced off against Ivy League opponents six times in their short Division I history, going 1-5 against the conference since the 2008-09 season. In program history, Bryant basketball is just 1-11 against the conference, having taken on Brown most frequently (0-8). Bryant got its only win against the Ancient Eight with its 69-58 topping of Yale last season.

LAST TIME OUT
Bryant held a 48-45 edge entering the final two minutes, but early foul trouble would ultimately doom the visiting Bulldogs, as St. Francis (NY) converted 19-of-24 from the line in the second half to complete a 54-48 comeback win in Saturday's Northeast Conference action.

Bryant held a seven-point lead through parts of the second half, as late as the 2:55 mark, and held the Terriers without a basket for over 11-straight minutes in the second frame. But when early foul trouble started sending St. Francis to the line early, the Bulldogs couldn't keep the balance in their favor.

Fouls gave St. Francis seven points off freebies over the basket-less stretch, while the Bulldog offense gave the Black and Gold just a 44-42 advantage. And once the Terriers started scoring again, with 2:17 left to play and the score stuck at 48-42 in Bryant's favor, the Bulldog defense couldn't make the stops they needed, sending the home team to the charity stripe 10 times in the final two minutes. St. Francis would convert on seven of those opportunities while getting 19 points off free throws in the second half alone. The Terriers shut out the Bulldogs in the final 2:56 of the contest, a stretch where the home team scored 13 points to take its first lead of the half, 49-48, with 40 seconds to play and grow it to six before the score went final.

The Bulldogs were led by senior captain Cecil Gresham, who returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 25 to post a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds. Bryant shot 33.3 percent on the day, besting its opponent (31.8), and was outrebounded by just one, 36-35. Gresham went 6-for-18 from the field, all coming from beyond the arc, while freshman Raphael Jordan scored 10 points off 2-for-6 shooting from the floor and 6-for-10 conversion from the line. Sophomore Papa Lo posted two blocks in the game.

Both teams' defenses came out strong to start the contest, limiting the quality shots seen by either side through the first minutes of the opening frame. But the Terriers took an early 12-4 lead on the back of four 3-point shots, a trio of them coming from Stefan Perunicic. The sides stalled at 12-4, and the Bulldogs wouldn't get a basket for the next 7:17, holding the Terriers scoreless for nearly as long (5:41). Bryant pulled within three, 12-9, with 8:18 on the clock after back-to-back scores, the second coming off the first 3-pointer of the day from Gresham.

The Terriers would do much of their scoring in the half from beyond the arc - they went 5-for-10 from long range - but it would be a Gresham trey, his second of six, that would knot the score at 21-21 with just 41 seconds to play before the intermission.

Akeem Bennett would give the Terriers a temporary two-point edge on a pair of successful free throws with 15 seconds remaining, but a clutch midrange jumper on the wing from Jordan would retie the game with just five ticks and the score would stay knotted as the teams headed into the locker room at the break.

The Bulldogs opened up a five-point advantage to start the second session, 30-25, getting a pair of treys from Adam Parzych and Gresham, but Kayode Ayeni would net 10 of the Terriers first 12 points to make up the difference and take a one-point edge, 35-34.

Three-consecutive makes from Gresham from downtown boosted the visitors back on top, 40-35, and Chris Birrell would add two more points before Bryant allowed the home side another score. But with the score frozen at 44-39 and Bryant out ahead with just over six minutes to play, the Terriers began to make their charge, aided by Bulldog errors and fouls.

UP NEXT
Bryant will play its second-straight game against an Ivy League opponent and just its second home contest of the season on Saturday when the Bulldogs welcome Columbia University to the Chace Athletic Center for a 1 p.m. matchup. The teams last faced off in 2008-09 at the Tyler Ugolyn Columbia Classic where the Lions took a 70-54 victory.

BLOCK PARTY: AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE
Papa Lo's nine blocks against Long Island Thursday night not only set a new career mark for the sophomore transfer from UMass (his previous career number sitting at six), it also vaulted him onto the national scene and into the 2009-10 national rankings. The nine rejections tied him for second in the nation for individual game highs so far in the 2009-10 campaign while his 2.9 blocks per game (23 total) are good for No. 16 in the country. His nine blocks against the Blackbirds rank 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 is tied for seventh on the Northeast Conference's all-time single-game charts. It was also the most swats in an NEC game since Monmouth's John Bunch blocked 10 back in February 2007.

On the three-game week last week, the first-year Bryant bigman posted 15 sendbacks, vaulting his season total to 23 and keeping him at the very top of the conference standings. 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.

GRESHAM RETURNS
Senior captain Cecil Gresham made his return memorable Saturday against the Terriers, posting a team-high 19 points on 6-of-18 shooting in his first appearance since November 25. The guard missed a pair of games due to knee and shoulder injuries but was among the starting five in the team's last outing, playing every minute of the contest. Gresham attempted the most 3-point field goals of him career (16), making six of them (season high). The senior is Bryant's leading scorer, averaging 15.7 points per game, and is tied for 26th nationally for 3-point field goals per game (3.2). He is also in the top-75 in the country in 3-point field goal percentage (39.6 pct.; T-68th).

BABY GRAND
Gresham returns to the Bulldogs in 2009-10 looking to repeat his star performance from last season. And while last season's numbers were remarkable, this Bulldog has been at the top of the game for his entire Bryant career. Over his three years in Smithfield so far, Gresham has appeared in 96 games, starting in 75 and averages 26.2 minutes per outing. He has racked up 388 rebounds, 29 blocks, 88 assists and 50 steals, but those numbers are nothing compared to the career benchmark he is fast approaching. Despite missing two games this season, Gresham has 978 points to his name and needs just 22 more to become the 31st 1,000-point scorer in Bryant men's basketball history. Gresham currently sits at No. 31 on the all-time career points list.

So far this season, Gresham paces the Bulldog offense, averaging 15.7 points per game. The senior broke out against Bucknell, hitting at a .563 clip (9-16) for a game-best 26 points and going 4-for-7 from long range. He has two blocks on the season and is shooting 37.9 percent from the floor.