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BULLDOGS HOST LONG ISLAND IN 2009-10 SEASON FINALE SATURDAY AFTERNOON (3:30 P.M.)
Posted: Feb 26, 2010

BULLDOGS HOST LONG ISLAND IN 2009-10 SEASON FINALE SATURDAY AFTERNOON (3:30 P.M.)

February 26, 2010

BULLDOGS HOST LONG ISLAND IN 2009-10 SEASON FINALE SATURDAY AFTERNOON (3:30 P.M.)

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SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team wraps up this year's action Saturday afternoon when the Bulldogs host Long Island University at the Chace Athletic Center for the 2009-10 season finale (3:30 p.m.). The contest is a rematch of the Northeast Conference opener back on December 3 in Brooklyn, N.Y., a contest the Blackbirds took, 62-46. Bryant looks for its first victory in front of the home crowd in its last contest of the year.

THE SERIES
This is the fourth meeting all-time between the Bulldogs and the Blackbirds, and LIU holds a 2-1 edge in the series. The last time these teams met came on Dec. 3, 2009 in the first game of 2009-10 Northeast Conference action. In that contest, sophomore bigman Papa Lo (Thies, Senegal) posted a career-high nine blocks, the most rejections of the season by any NEC player, to lead the Bulldogs, who put up 12 blocks as a team. Rookie Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) collected a game-high 15 points to record his first double-digit scoring output of the season on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor while he, junior Barry Latham (Taunton, Mass.) and senior captain Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I.) each pulled down a team-best five boards.

SCOUTING THE BLACKBIRDS
NEC Player of the Year nominee Jaytornah Wisseh paces LIU, averaging 17.7 points per game while Kyle Johnson chips in 12.2 per outing to pace the visiting Blackbirds. Johnson is the team leader on the glass with 6.7 rebounds per contest, while Jamal Olasewere adds 6.5 boards per game. Wisseh has dished out 148 assists on the season with the next-highest assists total coming from Johnson with just 33, and Kenny Onyechi leads the league in blocked shots, averaging 2.21 per game with 62 on the year. LIU shoots 39.8 percent from the floor and 35.2 percent from long range.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Bryant is 1-16 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, and getting its first win on February 18, 2010 at Wagner, 53-51. All-time against current Northeast Conference opponents, the Bulldog basketball program is 35-76, 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
Raphael Jordan (Bel Air, Md.) scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds but it was not enough to get the home side the win, as visiting St. Francis (NY) rallied late in regulation to pull out a 69-60 overtime win over Bryant University Thursday night in Northeast Conference action, despite trailing the entire contest.

Bryant led nearly the entire game but struggled from the perimeter, allowing the visiting Terriers, losers of four straight, to rally back. A Ricky Cadell long jumper with 3:32 left tied the game at 50-50 and an ensuing Bulldog foul in the other end resulted in a pair of free throws for Justin Newton, who gave the visitors their first lead of the game, 52-50, with 2:53 to play in regulation.

And while Bryant was up, 48-39, with 11 minutes remaining behind back-to-back treys from senior captain Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I.), the home side would manage just one more basket from the field, a Barry Latham (Taunton, Mass.) banker high off the glass with 9:20 left.

But the Bulldogs' big lead kept the Black and Gold in it despite the drought, and Bryant took advantage of a late missed free throw from St. Francis's Akeem Bennett to force the extra period. Jordan, the hero of the Bulldogs' 53-51 win over Wagner College last Thursday, drove the lane, drawing the foul with 26 seconds left. The freshman guard would sing both free throws, and Papa Lo (Thies, Senegal) would get the biggest of his three swats with eight seconds left, rejecting a last-second attempt by Bennett to send the game into overtime.

But in the extra period, the Terriers would outscore the Bulldogs, 17-8, and pull away quickly for the nine-point victory. Cadell finished with a game-high 21 points to lead the Terriers.

The Bulldogs played a strong opening half, never trailing throughout the stanza, and got a lift from the play of Jordan as the Bulldogs took a 35-26 lead into the locker room at the break. He scored 14 first-half points, highlighted by a fade-away three that dropped in as the rookie sharpshooter was knocked to the hardwood to draw a foul with 53 ticks left in the frame. Jordan would hit the free throw for the rare four-point play.

Bryant opened the half making four of its first six shots from the field, but the Bulldogs would then miss seven straight over a 10-minute span, still maintaining the lead thanks to good ball movement and penetration got the Black and Gold to the line 17 times. Bryant would convert on 14 of them.

A FOND FAREWELL
Bryant University says goodbye to a quartet of senior Bulldogs, who play their final contest donning the black and gold Saturday afternoon in 2010 Senior Day. Senior captains Chris Birrell and Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) headline the group, and the pair is joined by walk-ons Anthony Thomas (Boston, Mass.) and Don Smith (Attleboro, Mass.). The Bulldogs also say farewell to three-year men's basketball teammate and current student assistant Ray Witkos (Easthampton, Mass.) and two-year manager Thomas Wilson (Newtown, Conn.).