BRYANT MEN FALL TO SAINT FRANCIS (PA), 60-34, THURSDAY NIGHT
February 11, 2010
BRYANT MEN FALL TO SAINT FRANCIS (PA), 60-34, THURSDAY NIGHT
SMITHFIELD, R.I. - Sorena Orandi scored a game-high 13 points to lead four players in double figures as visiting Saint Francis (PA) won its first Northeast Conference road game since the 2007-08 season, cruising to a 60-34 win over host Bryant University at the Chace Athletic Center Thursday night.
Saint Francis (8-16, 6-7 NEC) shot a shade under 43 percent from the floor and made 8-of-13 from 3-point range in the game, led by Orandi's hot shooting from the floor. The junior went 4-for-7 from the floor including 3-for-5 from long range.
Bryant (0-25, 0-13 NEC), led by Vlad Kondratyev's (Nikolayev, Ukraine) team-best eight points, shot 28 percent from the field and was just 1-for-22 from 3-point range, with its only trey coming from rookie Claybrin McMath (Adelaide, Australia) with just 2:18 remaining in the contest.
Urged on by a tremendous student turnout, the Bulldogs got off to a good start. A turnaround jumper in the paint by Kondratyev gave Bryant an early 4-3 lead and moments later Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I.) scored on a nice drive in the lane to pull the Bulldogs even at 6-6 with 15:49 remaining. From there, however, it was all Red Flash.
Capitalizing on ice-cold shooting, the Red Flash raced out to a 16-6 lead as Bryant would miss 10-consecutive shots over a span of more than 10 minutes.
Birrell would finally answer with a runner in the paint to make it 16-8, but Saint Francis closed the half strong as a three from Chris McFarland and a nice spin move in the lane by Orandi gave the visitors a 25-12 lead. A dunk by Will Felder and a trey from Orandi in the final seconds made it 30-14 at the break as the Bulldogs finished the half shooting just 22 percent from the floor.
Kurt Hoffman opened the second frame with a quick jumper and followed with a steal and consequent layup to give the Red Flash their largest lead of the night to that point, 34-14. Bryant would answer, as a jumper from junior Mike Chroney (Nashua, N.H.) and a bucket by freshman Raphael Jordan (Bel Air, Md.) helped Bryant get back to within 37-22.
But that would be as close as the Bulldogs would get as Orandi drained another three and Felder drilled one from the top of the key to make it 53-26 en route to the 60-34 final.
The Bulldogs will host Robert Morris Saturday at 3:30 p.m. while Saint Francis visits Central Connecticut for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.