BULLDOGS LOOK TO SNAP EAGLES' STREAK, TAKE ON BOSTON COLLEGE SUNDAY AT 3 P.M.

Game Notes

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team wraps up finals week on the road against one of its toughest opponents of the 2010-11 season, as the Bulldogs make the short trip up to Chestnut Hill, Mass. to take on Boston College — the alma mater of two members of the Bulldog coaching staff — Sunday afternoon in Conte Forum. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m.

THE SERIES
Sunday's meeting will be the third-straight season the Bulldogs have traveled to Conte Forum to take on the Eagles, and BC owns a 2-0 edge in the all-time series. Bryant dropped the first-ever faceoff, 80-61, during its inaugural Division I season on December 10, 2008 and last year fell by a 72-46 margin on December 20, 2009. Senior Cecil Gresham averages 18.5 points per game in a pair of outings at Boston College and shoots at a combined 50 percent clip (14-28) from the floor. Fellow senior Barry Latham has also seen the Eagles twice.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Boston College returns home after taking a huge 79-75 win over ACC foe Maryland at College Park to extend its winning streak to five games. And while the Eagles have played every four days since the end of November when they started their current streak, the team will have a full week of rest before facing the Bulldogs. Reigning ACC Player of the Week Reggie Jacksonm paces the team in scoring, putting up 19.2 points per game and leads four Eagles averaging double figures. Among the quartet are Joe Trapani (12.8 ppg) and Corey Raji (11.1 ppg), who take over on the glass for BC, grabbing 6.6 and 6.1 boards per game, respectively. Biko Paris chips in 10.8 points per outing. But Jackson also leads the BC side in a number of other categories, including assists (45), steals (14), blocks (7), 3-point field goal percentage (47.8), 3-pointers made (22) and minutes per contest (34.3). Raji paces the team from the field, converting 56.4 percent from the floor (31-of-55). As a team, the Eagles are allowing opponents to shoot 43 percent, but BC is also shooting at a high clip at 47 percent. Competitors score just 66.2 points per game this season, while the Eagles have scored more than 75 in their last four outings and average 73.6 points per contest on the year.

BRYANT vs. THE ACC
Bryant is 0-3 all-time against current members of the ACC, having faced off against Boston College twice and the University of Maryland once (72-51 loss on December 27, 2008). Forward Cecil Gresham averages 14.0 points per game in three outings against conference members.

LAST TIME OUT
When senior forward Cecil Gresham drained his third 3-pointer of the game with one minute on the clock, he handed the Bryant University men's basketball team its first lead of the contest, 68-67. The trifecta capped off 19 minutes of slowly chipping away at a 13-point halftime deficit, one basket and one defensive stop at a time. But despite outscoring Columbia, 45-36, in second-half play – and 41-27 before the final minute of the game – the Bulldogs' comeback would fall just short, sending the Lions to the line eight times in the final 30 seconds to ultimately suffer a 76-72 setback on the road at Levien Gym.

Bryant shot an impressive 59.3 percent in the second half to make up for a less-than-stellar 28.1 percent clip in the opening frame, and held Columbia to nearly half its first-frame shooting after the break, dropping the Lions from 62.5 percent to just 36 percent in the final 20 minutes.

Gresham and rookie Alex Francis, who was playing in front of friends and family just blocks from his home, led the Bulldogs with 16 points apiece, while Frankie Dobbs kept his streak of nine-straight games in double figures intact with 14 points, all coming in the second session. Dobbs also dished out a career-high 10 assists on the night. Freshman sharpshooter Matthew Lee chipped in a career-high 11 points, while Francis's nine boards were a game high. Noruwa Agho paced the home side with a contest-best 20 points and was perfect from 3-point land (4-4).

A 9-for-32 shooting performance through the opening 20 minutes left Bryant in a 13-point hole at the halftime break, 40-27. But out of the intermission, the Bulldogs wouldn't make up any ground until the 12:43 mark, when Lee drained his third trifecta of the game to cut the Lions' lead to 52-42. Dobbs followed it up, draining his first three on the day with 11:42 on the clock to cut the home side's lead to single digits, 52-45. It would take nearly two more minutes, but at the 9:51 mark, sophomore Raphael Jordan would lay in a Dobbs pass and move within five for the first time, 54-49.

Columbia's lead would hover between four and nine points for the next 6:43, when Gresham – back in the game after taking his fourth foul less than five minutes into the second half – converted a layup into just a three-point deficit, 66-63, with 3:08 to go.

A Vlad Kondratyev score with 2:35 on the clock moved the margin to 67-65 in the home team's favor, but the scoring on both sides would then break until the shot that completed the Bulldogs' unlikely comeback – Gresham's trey as the clock hit 1:00.

But with his team's first deficit of the game, Steve Frankoski would respond on the next possession, dropping in his own 3-pointer to regain a two-point edge, 70-68. A missed jumper with 31 seconds left gave the ball back to Columbia with no shot clock, leaving the Bulldogs with no choice but to foul.

Agho would miss the first of two shots from the line, keeping Bryant within a single possession. But a huge block from Asenso Ampim gave the Lions back the ball with 12 seconds remaining.

Agho would again miss the front end of two freebies, and with 7.7 seconds to play, an Ampim foul on Dobbs as his shot fell through the hoop set the sophomore up for a three-point play – one which he converted – to bring the Bulldogs back to within one, 72-71. But Bryant wouldn't be able to get any closer, as Columbia went 4-for-4 from the line in the final seconds for the 76-72 victory.

The Lions got 20 points from the charity stripe on the day and outrebounded the Bulldogs, 36-30. Columbia would finish at a .490 clip from the floor, while the Black and Gold finished with one of their better shooting days of the season, at 42.4 percent. Bryant's 72 points was the second-highest total of the year (74 vs. Iona).

But the game didn't look as though it would be so close after the opening 20 minutes of play, as Columbia rushed out to an 11-3 lead in the first three minutes on the back of three-straight treys from Agho and Frankoski. But back-to-back Columbia turnovers directly forced by Dobbs led to five Bryant points, and the Bulldogs would cut the home side's lead to 13-10 with just over 13 minutes to play in the half.

A Gresham and-one play after the Bryant defense forced another Lions turnover brought the visiting Bulldogs to within a basket, 18-16, with 9:15 on the clock, but from there, things would fall apart.

Gresham, who was leading Bryant with nine points just halfway through the frame, took his third foul at the 7:11 mark and was forced to the bench, taking away a top scoring threat for the Black and Gold. The effect would be felt through the remainder of the half, as Bryant was outscored, 11-2, over the next 2:40 and 22-11 through the end of the first half.

UP NEXT
The Black and Gold take to the sky and travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. to round out the team's current three-game road trip two days before Christmas. Bryant will challenge Big Ten powerhouse the University of Michigan December 23 at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast LIVE on the Big Ten Network.

COMMON DENOMINATOR
Bryant and Boston College have three common opponents on their respective schedules. Both teams have already faced off against Ivy League surpriser Yale, who topped both the Bulldogs (75-53) and the Eagles (75-67) this season. BC also took on Bryant's fellow Northeast Conference member St. Francis (NY) early in November, topping the Terriers, 79-49, while Bryant has already matched up against BC's January 5 opponent in Harvard, suffering a 69-66 setback.

ALMA MATTERS
Bryant will play the alma mater of two of its coaches Sunday when the team travels to Boston College. Head coach Tim O'Shea and assistant coach Dwayne Pina are both BC graduates, while O'Shea also coached at Conte Forum, serving as associate head coach under Al Skinner from 1997-2001. O'Shea, who donned the Maroon and Gold from 1980-84, helped the Eagles to two Big East regular-season titles and four postseason tournaments, including a pair of runs to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and one to the Elite Eight. Pina, who played for O'Shea at BC from 1997-2000, earned Defensive MVP and Top Playmaker awards in his time with the Eagles, starting in 38 games and appearing in 78 as a guard. O'Shea has already faced off against a former team of his once this year, when the Bulldogs hosted Yale on December 8. O'Shea was an assistant on the Eli bench from 1986-88.