GRESHAM POSTS GAME-HIGH 19 POINTS BUT BRYANT FALLS TO YALE, 75-53, WEDNESDAY NIGHT

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Senior forward Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) scored a game-high 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting and a perfect 4-for-4 mark from the line, but it was not enough to hold off red-hot Yale, who came away with a 75-53 victory in non-league action Wednesday night.

Yale (5-4), behind 17 points from Reggie Willhite, shot 52.8 percent from the floor and converted on 9-of-19 from 3-point land in the win, as five different players connected from long range and three finished the night in double figures. Sophomore point guard Frankie Dobbs (Berea, Ohio) was the only other Bulldog to register double-digit points, with 13 on the night.

Bryant (1-7) kept tight with the Elis on the scoreboard through the opening six minutes, never trailing by more than a single possession before taking a 13-12 edge after two made free throws from Gresham.

But from there, Yale would outscore the home side, 18-2, over the ensuing eight minutes to double up the Black and Gold, 30-15, with 6:01 to play. A long jumper from Gresham would be the only score for the Bulldogs in the stretch, and the senior sharpshooter would end the half with a team-best nine points. The Elis would extend that run for the remainder of the session to close out the frame on a 23-9 run that saw the visitors go 6-for-12 from downtown en route to a 37-23 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs would work hard to get the first basket out of the intermission, points that came when Gresham threw himself into the lane and grabbed a ball that had already seemingly sailed past his reach for a big offensive rebound and subsequent layup in traffic at the 19:02 mark.

That momentum wouldn't stick around for long, though, as Yale extended its lead to 19 after Jeremiah Kreisberg converted a three-point play that sent Bryant bigman Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) to the bench with his fourth foul.

A deep trey from Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia) followed by an Elis turnover cut Yale's lead to 52-36, and minutes later a sharp pass from Raphael Jordan (Bel Air, Md.) from deep in the defensive corner found its target in Dobbs streaking down the sideline. The pass sprung the sophomore shooter for a breakaway layup to cut the home side's deficit to 55-42 with just under nine minutes to play.

But time would run out on the Bulldogs, who again struggled to keep their opponent under 50 percent shooting for a 75-53 final setback. The Elis would run out the final five-and-a-half minutes on a 14-5 stretch, punctuated by a Willhite dunk and back-to-back 3-pointers from Austin Morgan and Porter Braswell, before Dobbs drained a three from straightaway center to close the contest's scoring.

The Bulldogs shot just 30.5 percent on the night but gave up six less turnovers than their opponents, 18-12. Gresham's five rebounds paced the home team, who was outperformed on the glass by a 45-30 margin. Greg Mangano (11 points) grabbed a game-best seven boards.

Bryant returns to action this Saturday, when it takes on its second-straight Ivy League opponent in Columbia on the road at 4:00 p.m.