MEN’S BASKETBALL LOOKS TO SNAP LOSING STREAK WEDNESDAY AGAINST OBERLIN COLLEGE (7 P.M.)

Game Notes

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's basketball team returns from the holiday break to host Oberlin College in its final home game of 2010 on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 7:00 p.m. The game, originally scheduled for Tuesday night, was postponed 24 hours after severe snowstorms up and down the East Coast prohibited the visiting Yeomen from traveling to Rhode Island.

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Oberlin College, a Division III North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) program from Oberlin, Ohio, enters tonight's game with a 1-8 record on the 2010-11 season. The Yeomen come to Smithfield fresh off a 19-day holiday break, having last hit the hardwood on December 10 against Alma College (77-63 loss). Oberlin earned its only win in the season opener with a 78-72 victory over Westminister at home. The Yeomen will stay in the area following tonight's game to take on Newport's Salve Regina on December 30.

THE SERIES
Bryant welcomes Oberlin into the Chace Athletic Center for the first-ever meeting between the two programs. 

SCOUTING THE YEOMEN
Oberlin is led by a pair of proven shooters in junior Josh Merritt and sophomore Andrew Fox, who both average better than 15 points per game (15.9 and 15.3, respectively). The pair are part of three Yeomen who have started all nine games this season, joined by senior guard Pat Bernhard, who is the only other player averaging double-digit points (11.7 ppg). Merritt paces the Yeomen with 34 assists and an impressive .449 shooting percentage (48-107), while Fox pulls down a team-leading 6.4 rebounds per outing and has a squad-best 16 steals so far this year. Sophomore Charlie Crawford-Silva boasts a team-best 12 blocks with 35 rebounds, good for second on the team, and has made five starts. Oberlin is allowing opponents to score 82.4 points per game to the 67.7 the Yeomen put up, and the team allows opponents to convert 47.9 percent of shots from the field.

LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Vlad Kondratyev shot 70 percent from the floor and went 5-of-6 from 3-point range to tie his career high with 20 points, while rookie Matthew Lee set a new career mark for the third-straight game with 19 points, but the Bryant University men's basketball team couldn't orchestrate an upset in its biggest challenge of the season, falling to the University of Michigan, 87-71, Thursday night at Crisler Arena.

Freshman Alex Francis also had a big day, putting up 17 points and a game-high nine rebounds, as the Bulldogs won the battle on the glass for the second-consecutive game, after topping Boston College on the boards last Sunday. Bryant out-boarded the Wolverines in Thursday's contest, 33-32.

The Bulldogs shot a season-best 52 percent from long distance in the affair, draining 13 trifectas, the most of any game so far this year. But all of them came from just a quartet of players – and not necessarily the ones the Bulldog bench has come to expect. Kondratyev's five treys were just the second-sixth of the season for the second-year forward and stand as a career high, as do the five from Lee, who has now earned starts in each of the last two contests. Sophomore point guard Frankie Dobbs also added a pair while senior Cecil Gresham connected on his only 3-point attempt of the game. Gresham, who was injured in the final minutes of first-half action, would not return to the court in the second frame.

A strong start and tough play from the Bryant five handed the Bulldogs a 7-6 edge 3:13 into the contest, as Francis drove the lane to muscle in a bank shot after a Michigan turnover in its own offensive end.

The teams would keep the battle close, and Bryant regained the slight edge at the 14:06 mark, 12-11, on another strong Francis drive. But his 10 points weren't the only high point of the half.

Lee also showed off his natural shooting ability from long range, dropping in 11 points – a team best on the frame – including a trio of 3-pointers with moderate ease.

But the Wolverines would knock down three-consecutive treys before the Bulldogs would get another point, stretching out a 32-22 lead with 6:10 to play in the session. Still, the Black and Gold wouldn't let the home team's advantage get out of hand, keeping UM's edge to just 10 through the remaining minutes for a 45-35 halftime margin.

Both teams hit 50 percent of their shots in the opening 20 minutes, while Bryant shot an impressive 70 percent from 3-point land at a 7-of-10 clip. Lee went 4-for-5 from the floor and 3-of-4 from 3-point land in the half.

But the Bulldogs would cool off in the second frame, most crucially from long range, where they would shoot just 6-of-15 through the final 20 minutes. Michigan would be less accurate as well, preventing the home side from opening up a lead any larger than 17 points throughout the contest. That 17-point advantage came with 5:35 to play in regulation.

Bryant would respond over the next 90 seconds, scoring seven uninterrupted points to drop the Wolverines' lead back to just 74-64. But time would run out on the Bulldogs, who were forced into fouling in the waning seconds to fall by an eventual 87-71 final score.

Dobbs, who was kept out of double figures in the points column for the first time all season (8 points), dished out nine assists on the night while his team shot 46.4 percent from the field. Michigan converted at a .483 clip and shot 50 percent on the game from 3-point land. Darius Morris recorded the only double-double of the contest with a game-high 26 points and 12 assists for the home side.

The Bulldogs took good care of the ball throughout the contest, turning it over just 10 times, one shy of a season low, but the Wolverines did even better, giving the ball away just three times in 40 minutes of action. Three of Bryant's turnovers would come on charges.

A trio of Bulldogs earned blocks in the contest, one apiece from junior Papa Lo, Kondratyev and Francis.