MAYNARD'S LAST-SECOND 3-POINTER LIFTS BRYANT PAST ST. FRANCIS (NY), 67-64, FOR PROGRAM'S FIRST OFFICIAL NEC HOME WIN

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – With five seconds remaining in a tie game, freshman Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia) drilled a game-winning 3-pointer from deep in the right corner to lift the Bryant University men's basketball team to the program's first-official Northeast Conference home win, a 67-64 victory over St. Francis (NY)  Saturday afternoon at the Chace Athletic Center.

Down by two, 64-62, Frankie Dobbs (Berea, Ohio) missed the front end of a one-and-one, but senior Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) was there to grab the offensive board near the baseline, allowing him the easy layup to tie the game at 64-64 with 46 seconds left to play in the contest.

St. Francis (7-8, 2-2 NEC) came down the floor on the next possession, but senior sharpshooter Ricky Cadell's shot (18 points) was off target and senior Barry Latham (Taunton, Mass.) pulled in the rebound, passing the ball off to Dobbs, the floor general for the Bulldogs (3-13, 1-2). And it was Dobbs who would set up Maynard's game-winning heroics, dishing the ball off to the rookie set up in the corner with under five seconds to play.

The trey, which Maynard dropped in with 4.3 showing on the clock to vault Bryant to a 67-64 lead, was the freshman's only basket of the game and one of just two shots for the guard on the day.

While Maynard played hero, it was Gresham's game-high 24 points that were most instrumental in the victory, as the senior shot 76.9 percent for the floor, hitting a season-high 10 field goals in 13 tries, including four 3-pointers. Sophomore Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) chipped in with 12 points while Latham added a season-high 10 on the affair. As a team, the Bulldogs shot at a season-best 52.3 percent clip from the field (23-of-44) and outrebounded the Terriers, 39-24, the largest rebounding margin of the season.

But the Terriers wasted no time in establishing a lead at the outset of the game, as Akeem Bennett (15 points) and Akeem Johnson (13 points) combined for the first five points of the contest until Bulldog freshman Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) put the Bulldogs on the board with a driving layup at the 18:20 mark. From there, Stefan Perunicic hit a pair of 3-pointers to give the Terriers a nine-point advantage – their largest lead of the game – but the Bulldogs answered with a Gresham 3-pointer to cut the lead to 15-9 with 13:26 to play in the opening stanza.

Senior Cecil Gresham scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 67-64 win over St. Francis (NY) Saturday.

St. Francis recouped a nine-point edge with a 6-2 run, but Bryant would trim that lead to four points, 24-20, with 4:00 to play, a pair of Latham freebies. Two Francis free throws cut the score to 28-26, a score that would stick through the halftime break.

Gresham led all scorers with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting at the intermission while Perunicic paced the Terriers with eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers. But the Bulldogs gave the ball away 12 times in the opening 20 minutes and St. Francis took advantage of the miscues, scoring 16 points off turnovers.

Out of the break, Kondratyev tied the score at 28-28 just over a minute in, crashing the boards on a missed shot by Raphael Jordan (Bel Air, Md.) for a quick one-handed putback. The teams then took turns trading slim leads, highlighted by a series of seven 3-pointers between both squads over a 3:22 span, with St. Francis coming out of the stretch on top, 52-48, despite three treys from Gresham.

While both lineups continued to score, St. Francis maintained its four-point lead until a trey by Perunicic pushed the Terriers up, 61-54, with 6:25 left in the contest.

Bryant answered with an 8-3 run, capped off by a Latham 3-pointer to bring the Bulldogs within one point, 63-62, at the 3:22 mark. The Terriers would score just a single point more, a free throw by Cadell at the 3:13 mark, allowing the home side to overtake the lead on Maynard's game winner. A 3-pointer at the buzzer from Cadell hit the rim but was just off target, sealing the victory for the home side as the Bulldogs claimed their first official home NEC win, 67-64.

The Black and Gold return to conference action on Thursday, Jan. 13, when they travel to Hamden, Conn. to visit Quinnipiac for a 7:00 p.m. matchup.