BULLDOGS LOOK FOR FIRST TRUE ROAD WIN AT LEHIGH SUNDAY NIGHT (7 P.M.)

November 27, 2010

BULLDOGS LOOK FOR FIRST TRUE ROAD WIN AT LEHIGH SUNDAY NIGHT (7 P.M.)

Game Notes

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Bryant University men's basketball team leaves the familiar confines of the Chace Athletic Center for its first roadtrip since the 2010-11 season-opening World Vision Classic and departs on a two-game road stint that begins with a 7:00 p.m. Sunday night matchup against Patriot League member Lehigh University at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa. 

THE SERIES
This is the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and the Mountain Hawks and is the last of two Bulldog outings against Patriot League teams this season.

LAST TIME OUT
Bryant sophomore guard Frankie Dobbs (Berea, Ohio) scored 15 points while freshman forward Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) poured in 14 on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor, but it was not enough as Harvard's Christian Webster drained a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left for what would be the game winner as the Crimson escaped with a 69-66 win Wednesday afternoon at the Chace Athletic Center.

Bryant (1-4) took a 66-62 lead on a 3-pointer from senior Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) on the baseline with 1:41 remaining. Harvard would respond as junior forward Keith Wright got position in the paint and scored while drawing a foul on Bryant's Francis. The play proved crucial as it was Francis' fifth foul of the game, sending the standout rookie to the bench with just over a minute to play. Francis had been having his way inside against Harvard (3-1) throughout the second half, and the two-time defending Northeast Conference Rookie of the Week scored 12 of his 14 points in the second frame on 6-of-8 shooting from the field.

Following Wright's free throw to complete the 3-point play, Bryant's Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia) missed a 3-point attempt, setting up the game winner by Webster, who drained the long three in front of his own bench after a nice pass from Wright inside.

The basket put Harvard up, 68-66, but with only two teams fouls, the Crimson were able to burn most of the remaining time, preventing the Bulldogs from getting a potential game-tying or game-winning basket.

Bryant wasn't awarded a single free throw attempt in the game as the Crimson outshot the Bulldogs, 18-0, at the stripe in the outing. Harvard made 13 of those free throws and finished the game shooting a solid 49 percent from the floor. Wright, a 6-8 forward from Suffolk, Va., put up a game-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while adding three blocks. Guard Brandyn Curry was the only other Harvard player to reach double figures with 14 points and three assists. 

Dobbs, who played nearly all 40 minutes, went 6-of-12 from the floor, including a 3-for-8 mark from 3-point range, and dished out five assists. The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 43.3 percent from the field and edged the Crimson on the glass, 34-33, getting eight boards apiece from Gresham (9 points) and sophomore Vlad Krondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) who finished the contest with eight points.

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS
C.J. McCollum has been near unstoppable this season, leading Lehigh with averages of 21.6 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per outing. McCollum exploded for 42 points in the Mountain Hawks' last outing Friday on the road against Kent State as the only Lehigh player to break into double digits, and he is shooting at a 42.5 percent clip from the floor with a squad-best nine steals. Michael Ojo is the only other player to average double figures on the season, posting 13.2 points per game in his three appearances. The Mountain Hawks are 2-3 on the year, with wins over Cornell and Wagner at home. Anthony D'Orazio paces Lehigh from beyond the arc at a 50 percent conversion rate (7-of-14) while Mackey McKnight has dished out a team-leading 18 assists. As a team, the Mountain Hawks are shooting 41.8 percent from the floor and 72.6 percent from the charity stripe and pull down 34.6 boards per game.

COMMON DENOMINATOR
Bryant and Lehigh have faced off against a single common opponent so far in 2010-11, both sides taking on a talented Kent State side to the same result. The Bulldogs fell to the Golden Flashes, 90-49, in the second game of the season at the World Vision Classic in Cleveland, Ohio, while the Mountain Hawks dropped an 80-75 decision in Kent, Ohio their last time out. Lehigh has also played a pair of Bryant's Northeast Conference opponents already this season, topping Wagner, 73-57, in its home opener and falling to Monmouth on the road, 69-68. The Bulldogs fell to Lehigh's future conference foe Army, 76-66, last Saturday in their own home opener. 

BRYANT vs. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE
Bryant enters Sunday's matchup 0-4 against current Patriot League members in its short Division I history and is winless in five tries against the conference all-time. Four of the program's five Patriot League contests have come against Army, who the Bulldogs have played in each of the last three seasons and last faced off against eight days ago to a 66-76 result. The only other game against the conference came last season, when the Black and Gold took a three-point defeat at the hands of Bucknell, 59-56, in the season-opening World Vision Invitational (Nov. 15 hosted by Providence College). The Mountain Hawks are the second and final Patriot League opponent Bryant will take on this season.

IF BRYANT WERE TO WIN...
— The victory would mark the program's first-ever win over a Patriot League opponent.
— The Bulldogs would double their 2009-10 win total in just the first month of 2010-11 play.
— The team would earn its first true road win of the year.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs head to Teaneck, N.J. for their 2010-11 Northeast Conference opener against Fairleigh Dickinson on December 2 at 7:00 p.m. This is the only conference matchup of 2010 for the Black and Gold, who will resume NEC play after the new year (January 3 at Monmouth).

THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER
Rookie Corey Maynard earned his first-career start in the Bulldogs' last outing Wednesday vs. Harvard. Prior to Wednesday's start, the frosh guard was averaging 16.8 minutes per game with appearances in all four outings but had recorded just a single basket in 11 tries with seven total rebounds. Against the Crimson, Maynard went 5-for-11 from the field, hitting one trifecta for a career-high 11 points in a personal-best 32 minutes of floor time while also chipping in career bests on the boards (5) and in assists (4).

HELPING HANDS
Every Bryant player who has seen action in all five games and eight of the 12 Bulldogs who have seen floor time at all this season have dished out at least one assist in 2010-11. Sophomore newcomer Frankie Dobbs leads the way with 27 and is on pace to pass the 135-assist mark for the year. If he does keep his current pace, he would not only more than double the season total of last year's assist leader (Chris Birrell, 66), but the total would also rank him second all-time in the single-season record books. But at this rate, Dobbs won't get close to touching top-ranked Ned Bohan, who handed out 319 helpers during the 1974-75 season. Bryant is also getting double-digit assists from Barry Latham (14) and Corey Maynard (10) this season.

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's all-time scoring list. The 31st 1,000-point scorer in program history, Gresham started the season at the bottom of that list but has since added 53 points in five games this season to jump three places and move into sole possession of the 28th spot. With 1,053 career points, the forward needs just 10 points to tie Julius Sacko at No. 27.