DOBBS SCORES CAREER-HIGH 22 POINTS, BRYANT MEN WIN THIRD STRAIGHT, 72-59, OVER SACRED HEART ON ROAD SATURDAY

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Sophomore Frankie Dobbs (Berea, Ohio) scored a career-high 22 points and rookie forward Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) recorded his fifth double-double of the season to lead the Bryant University men's basketball team to its third-consecutive victory, a 72-59 topping of Northeast Conference rival Sacred Heart, Saturday afternoon at the William H. Pitt Center.

The win came courtesy of 55.6 percent shooting (25-of-45) for the Bulldogs (5-13, 3-3 NEC), the team's best shooting percentage of the season, and is the second time the Black and Gold have eclipsed the 50 percent mark from the field during the current stretch. Saturday's victory marks the program's first winning streak since the 2008-09 season and its first win over Sacred Heart (7-10, 2-4) in the Division I era.

Bryant led the whole way Saturday afternoon after making up a 3-2 deficit in the first two minutes of the game, putting forth a stiff defense right out of the gates against the Pioneers to open up an 18-5 lead in the opening seven minutes.

The Bulldogs would take their largest edge of the day at the 8:20 mark, opening a 25-9 advantage over the home side with a Francis free throw. From there, though, Sacred Heart would slowly start to chip away at the visitors' lead, digging in on defense as Bryant hands gave away six turnovers in the final eight minutes of the frame. The Pioneers would score at twice the rate of the Bulldogs to cut the score to 34-27 with 70 seconds to play in the half, and Bryant would add the final basket of the session to enter intermission with a 36-27 edge.

And while it looked like the Pioneers were poised to make a comeback early on in the second frame – the home side cut the lead to just five points, 51-46, on a Chris Evans jumper with 11:10 to play – the Bulldogs would quickly put a stop to any follies on the court from there, building their edge back up to double digits just over a minute later.

Bryant's lead would linger around the 10-point mark for the next seven minutes, giving up no ground to the hosts and forcing the Pioneers into an early fouling game. The Bulldogs would go 7-of-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch, including a perfect 6-for-6 mark from Dobbs, to secure the 13-point victory and the team's first winning streak of the season.

Bryant took far fewer shots than the home side in the both halves and was outshot, 73-45, on the day. But the visiting Black and Gold converted at a sizzling 60.9 percent clip in the first session while holding the Pioneers to 25 percent shooting from the floor, and shot 50 percent to SHU's 29.7 percent in the final 20 minutes for the season-high 55.6 percent mark.

Sophomore guard Raphael Jordan (Bel Air, Md.) had one of the best games of his career and his best performance of the season in the win, going 7-for-9 from the floor in 35 minutes of action for a season-high 15 points. Francis's 12 points complimented a team-high 11 rebounds, while senior Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) chipped in 12 points of his own with a contest-high three blocks on the day. 

The Black and Gold now return home to the Chace Athletic Center for a four-game Northeast Conference homestand, where they will put their newfound winning streak on the line against Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.