BULLDOGS LOOK TO EVEN CONFERENCE RECORD, HOST MOUNT ST. MARY'S SATURDAY AT 4 P.M.

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SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team closes out its current four-game homestand Saturday afternoon as part of a men's/women's Northeast Conference doubleheader against Mount St. Mary's University. The men tipoff from the Chace Athletic Center at 4:00 p.m., and the game can be heard live locally on WOON 1240AM or online at www.bryantbulldogs.com. Saturday's action can also be seen live at www.bryantbulldogs.tv.

THE SERIES
The Mount holds a 4-0 lead over the Bulldogs in the all-time series, dating back to the 1982-83 season. The last time the two teams met, Mount St. Mary's took a 74-45 victory in Emmitsburg, Md. on Feb. 20, 2010. Raphael Jordan posted a game-high 19 points in the loss on 9-of-15 shooting while Vlad Kondratyev was the only other Bulldog to register double-digit scoring with 11 points. Saturday's game marks the first time The Mount has traveled to Smithfield for a game against the Bulldogs since Dec. 1, 1983, when the team topped the home side, 102-98.

SCOUTING THE MOUNT
Lamar Trice paces Mount St. Mary's with a 13.8 scoring average and is one of two players to average double digits (Shawn Atupem, 10.3 ppg). Atupem paces The Mount on the glass, pulling down 4.9 rebounds per outing, while Trice also tops the in assists (66) and steals (24). Raven Barber has proved among the most dangerous shooters in the league despite seeing just under 20 minutes per game and leads the league in field goal percentage, converting on 65.3 of his shots on the year. Danny Thompson's 27 blocks are a team high while The Mount gets the bulk of its 3-point shooting from Trice (39-122) and Atupem (41-135). As a team, Mount St. Mary's shoots 40.7 percent from the field but averages just 59.7 points per game. Saturday's visitors are tied for fourth in a tight NEC race and are looking to return to the win column after falling to Central Connecticut Thursday night, 71-52.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs enter Saturday's contest having lost their last two NEC matchups in overtime. Bryant is 4-5 in conference action and looks to even its NEC record Saturday. Since joining the Division I ranks, Bryant has gone 11-30 against current Northeast Conference members, with six of those wins coming in the program's inaugural DI season in 2008-09. All-time against current NEC members, the Bulldog basketball program is 39-84, having most frequently faced off against former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) member Quinnipiac (17-39).

LAST TIME OUT
Down by three with 19 seconds left in regulation, senior forward Cecil Gresham nailed a clutch 3-pointer to knot the score at 67-67 and send the Bulldogs to their second-straight overtime game. But the Bryant University men's basketball team could not hold off Wagner in extra time as the Bulldogs fell, 80-75, in Northeast Conference action Thursday night at the Chace Athletic Center.

The Bulldogs closed down a five-point gap with 3:37 to play in regulation with a 7-2 run capped off by Gresham's game-tying trifecta to force the extra frame against the Seahawks, but it was visiting Wagner who went on the 7-2 run to open the overtime stanza, taking a 74-69 edge on a Josh Thompson fastbreak. The Bulldogs worked to close the gap to as little as two, 75-73, with 1:28 to play, but despite a few good looks at the basket, Bryant could not get the shots to fall, allowing the visitors to hit free throws down the stretch and claim the five-point victory.

Gresham paced the Bulldogs with a game-high 18 points while freshman Alex Francis added 16 points and a team-leading eight rebounds. Sophomore Frankie Dobbs chipped in with 12 points while Corey Maynard and Raphael Jordan each added 10 to round out the double-figure scorers for the home side.

The Seahawks had five players reach double figures, including Latif Rivers, who scored a team-high 16 points. As a team, the Bulldogs shot 43.1 percent from the floor while the Seahawks shot at a 49.2 percent clip.

Wagner opened up the game with any early 6-0 run, but the Bulldogs answered right back with eight-straight points as a pair of free throws from Francis put the home side on top, 8-6, at the 13:53 mark.

Later in the half, the Seahawks managed to tie up the score on a pair of free throws, but the Bulldogs moved quickly down the other end of the floor as Jordan hit a 3-pointer to kick off a 10-1 run for the Black and Gold, ending with a Gresham trey to give the home side a 28-21 advantage at the 5:03 mark.

Wagner slowly chipped away in the waning minutes of the half and despite a late 3-pointer by Maynard, the visitors ended the opening stanza in strong fashion as a 5-0 run tied up the game, 36-36, at halftime.

Gresham paced the Bulldogs with 11 points at the break while Orlando Parker and Naofall Folahan scored eight points apiece for the visitors. As a team, the Black and Gold shot 41.7 percent from the floor on 10-for-24 shooting while the Seahawks shot at a 40 percent clip.

Bryant opened the second session with a quick four points, but the Seahawks responded with a 7-0 run, taking a 43-40 advantage on a layup by Parker at the 16:03 mark. Maynard halted the Seahawk stretch with mid-range jumper, but Wagner came back a few minutes later with an 11-0 run, expanding the lead to 56-44 with 13:32 left in regulation.

Maynard would once again end Bryant's scoring drought, this time by way of a 3-pointer, to kick off a 7-0 run and trim Wagner's lead down to 56-51 at the midway point of the half.

After a pair of Wagner baskets, a 3-pointer by Jordan opened a 9-0 run for the Bulldogs as a driving lay-in from Dobbs tied it up, 60-60, at the 5:52 mark. From there the teams swapped buckets until Tyler Murray gave the Seahawks a 3-point edge on a driving layup. But Gresham would get it back in dramatic fashion to send the game into overtime, draining a trey with 19 ticks left on the clock.

FIVE FOR FIGHTING
Despite the loss, Thursday's game marked the first time this season in which five Bulldogs registered double-figure scoring in a single contest. Two of those double-digit outings came off the bench from a pair of rookies in the form of 16 points from Alex Francis and 10 more from Corey Maynard, while senior forward Cecil Gresham poured in a game-high 18 points, sophomore Frankie Dobbs scored 12 and sophomore Raphael Jordan chipped in 10 points in starting roles Thursday night. Bryant got just nine points from the five other players who saw action in the game.

LET'S PLAY THREE!
After needing no overtime in the team's first 19 games of the season, Bryant has gone into the extra third session in each of the last two contests. Both Thursday against Wagner (80-75 loss) and last Saturday against Monmouth (81-76 loss), the Bulldogs have tied the game with a 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation to force extra time, and in both games, the Black and Gold have fallen in OT by five points. Raphael Jordan knotted up last Saturday's game against Monmouth with a triple with 5.5 seconds left on the clock to force the first overtime game of the season for the Bulldogs. Thursday night was senior Cecil Gresham's turn to nail to tying 3-pointer, a shot he hit with under 20 seconds to play.

Last Saturday's contest marked the first overtime game for the Bulldog program since Feb. 25, 2010. The last time the Bryant men played consecutive overtime outings was back in the 2007-08 season at the Division II level, when the Bulldogs fell to Assumption College, 74-72, on Jan. 8, 2008 and came back to top Pace, 76-75, in OT two days later.

UP NEXT
Bryant returns to the road for the next three contests, traveling to western Pennsylvania for two games next week against conference opponents Robert Morris (Thursday, Feb. 3) and Saint Francis (PA) (Saturday, Feb. 5) before returning to New England for the start of NEC Rivalry Week.