BULLDOGS LOOK FOR FIRST HOME WIN OF SEASON WEDNESDAY AGAINST HARVARD (4 P.M.)

November 23, 2010

BRYANT LOOKS FOR WIN OVER HARVARD WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AT HOME (4 P.M.)

GAME NOTES

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's basketball team looks for its second win of the young 2010-11 season Wednesday afternoon when it welcomes Harvard University to the Chace Athletic Center for a 4:00 p.m. pre-Thanksgiving Day matchup. The game can be heard seen and live on www.bryantbulldogs.com or locally on WOON 1240 AM.

THE SERIES
Bryant has faced off against Harvard just once before, falling to the Crimson Ivy Leaguers, 77-51, at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass. just over a year ago (Nov. 20, 2009). Current senior Cecil Gresham led the Black and Gold with 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds in the losing effort while the Bulldogs shot just 33.9 percent from the floor and were outrebounded, 42-33.

LAST TIME OUT
Reigning NEC Rookie of the Week Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) scored a career-high 19 points while sophomore point guard Frankie Dobbs (Berea, Ohio) matched the effort, but despite a late-game surge, the Bryant University men's basketball team couldn't hold on for the win, falling to Army, 76-66, in the 2010-11 home opener Saturday afternoon.

Francis's career mark came off 9-of-14 shooting (64.3 percent) from the floor while the frosh forward also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds to lead the Black and Gold, but it was Dobbs's second-half effort that guided the Bulldogs to even the score at 46-46 with 14:15 left to play in the game.

After just a two-point first frame, Dobbs upped his total to five when he capped off a 14-5 Bryant run that opened the second half and drew the teams even for the first time since the score read 5-5. But it wouldn't last long, as Army took back six points for a 52-46 edge as the clock ticked under the nine-minute mark. Dobbs would get the momentum back for the home side all by himself, scoring the next seven points in consecutive order to hand his side its first lead of the game since the opening basket, 53-52, with 7:43 to go.

The teams would trade leads and 3-pointers over the next four minutes until the Black Knights' Julian Simmons – who led the game with an impressive 30 points off 12-of-24 shooting – put an end to the back-and-forth affair with a long trey, opening up a five-point visitors lead, 64-59, with 3:44 on the clock. It was one of three trifectas for Simmons on the day. The 3-pointer was part of what would end up being a 13-0 run that ran the clock down to just 1:10 before the Bulldogs got back on the board with a Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) made free throw.

Dobbs would nail back-to-back threes, both assisted by senior Barry Latham (Taunton, Mass.), to close the gap to 73-66, but with the clock at just 42 seconds, the deficit was too much to make up as Bryant took the eventual 76-66 loss.

Dobbs scored 15 of his team-leading 19 points in the final 10 minutes of the contest, while Francis was held to just seven points and a single rebound in the second frame (12p, 7r in first half) and Sunday's hero Raphael Jordan (Bel Air, Md.) was held without a point after an 11-point start in the first 20 minutes. Gresham also recorded double-digit points on the outing (12) and all four played at least 35 minutes in the game.

Despite the loss, the Bulldogs proved to their home fans just how much improved the team is from a year ago. Bryant overcame a nine-point halftime deficit and recorded a number of game bests in the affair, including assists (Dobbs, 8, ties career high), steals (Jordan, 6, career high), blocks (2, Vladyslav Kondratyev, ties season high) and minutes (Dobbs, 40, career high). Francis and Dobbs both impressed in their Chace Athletic Center debut, and the former dazzled the crowd with a trio of dunks in his first home appearance, including an earth-shaking two-hand slam with 9:22 to play in the first half.

On the day, Army outshot Bryant, 49.1 percent to 35.3 percent and owned the glass, 45-33. The Bulldogs put up four blocks to the Black Knights' three and came up with 12 steals to Army's four. Both teams recorded nine trifectas in the game.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON
Harvard starts out the 2010-11 season with a 2-1 mark entering Wednesday's contest and is led by sophomore guard and reigning Ivy League Co-Player of the Week Christian Webster's 17.3 points per game. He is one of three Crimson players with double-digit point averages, joined by leading rebounder Keith Wright (14.3 ppg) and assists leader Brandyn Curry (10.0 ppg). Wright pulls down 8.3 boards per outing with a team-best four blocks on the year and is shooting a remarkable 72.7 percent from the floor (16-of-22) while Curry has dished out 23 assists in a trio of contests and also contributes on the glass, grabbing 6.3 boards per game. As a team, the Cambridge Ivy Leaguers are shooting 43.7 percent from the floor with a 33.9 mark from 3-point land and average 66.7 points per outing.

BRYANT vs. THE IVY LEAGUE
Bryant is 1-8 against the Ancient Eight in its short Division I history, having matched up against Columbia (0-2), Brown (0-2), Cornell (0-2) and Yale (1-1) each of the last two seasons. In the history of the program, the Bulldogs are just 1-14 against Ivy League opponents, most frequently matching up with intrastate rival Brown (0-8). Bryant earned its lone win over the conference on January 2, 2009 with a 69-58 topping of Yale at the Chace Athletic Center. Just two current Bulldogs played in the victory, and now-senior Barry Latham chipped in 14 points and five assists off the bench while Cecil Gresham got the start but posted just two points, two rebounds and a pair of assists. For his career, Gresham leads the Bulldog ranks against Ivy League foes, averaging 13.0 points per game in six contests. Sophomore Raphael Jordan is the only other current Bulldog to average double figures (10.4 ppg in five contests last season).

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs hit the road after Thanksgiving and will take on their second and final Patriot League opponent of the year in Lehigh University on Sunday, Nov. 28 (7 p.m.) before heading to Teaneck, N.J. for their 2010-11 Northeast Conference opener against Fairleigh Dickinson on December 2 (7 p.m.).

FRANCIS REPEATS AS CHOICE HOTELS NEC CO-ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Frosh forward Alex Francis earned his second-consecutive weekly honor Monday afternoon, again being named the Choice Hotels Northeast Conference Co-Rookie of the Week after a career-high 19-point performance against Army Saturday, as announced by league officials. Francis now owns the only two weekly conference accolades in Bryant men's basketball's short Division I history.

On the year, Francis leads the team on the glass and ranks fourth in the conference, averaging 8.8 boards per game, and has now collected contest–high rebound numbers in three of the season's four outings. He has also posted team-high point totals in three of four games and paces Bryant with an impressive 53.8 field goal percentage (21-of-39), tied for eigth among all NEC players entering Tuesday action. He leads the lead in offensive boards and is second on the team in scoring with 13.0 points per game (T-14th in the NEC). 

In his first weekend as a Bulldog, the highly touted rookie lived up to his billing, posting double-double efforts in each of his first two collegiate outings and ended the World Vision Basketball Invitational averaging 11.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 1.7 apg and 1.0 bpg while shooting 48.0 percent from the field. He is the first NEC frosh to begin his career with back-to-back double-doubles since November of 1998.

FRESH PRINCE
With teammates Frankie Dobbs and Corey Maynard around to run the point, sophomore Raphael Jordan has hit his stride as a shooter and a scrapper in 2010-11. The Bel Air, Md. native had started in each of the last two contests and has put up double-digit points in each. Jordan leads the team from beyond the arc, converting eight of his 12 trifecta attempts for a 66.7 3-point shooting percentage that sits second overall among all NEC players. But the Bryant coaching staff has always known the 6-1 guard could shoot. But he has also impressed with his scrappiness and tenacity on the court, leading both the team and the conference in steals (2.50/game). Jordan picked up a career-best six thefts Saturday against Army.

MOVIN' ON UP
After scoring his 1,000th point last season against St. John's, fifth-year senior Cecil Gresham is moving up the Bryant men's basketball program all-time scoring list. The 31st 1,000-point scorer in program history, Gresham added 32 points at the World Vision Classic and 12 more against Army to jump two places and move into sole possession of the 29th spot with 1,044 career points. The forward needs just three points to take over the No. 28 ranking and surpass Dennis Verni '83.