DOBBS DELIVERS IN THE CLUTCH, LEADS BRYANT PAST SAINT FRANCIS (PA), 70-69, SATURDAY AFTERNOON

LORETTO, Pa. – Sophomore Frankie Dobbs (Berea, Ohio) nailed a fade away jumper as time expired to give the Bryant University men's basketball team the 70-69 win over Saint Francis (PA) Saturday afternoon at DeGol Arena.

Umar Shannon took a 3-pointer to put the Red Flash (7-16, 5-7 Northeast Conference) out in front, 68-69, for the first time since the 13:45 mark but left five seconds on the clock, giving the Bulldogs (8-16, 6-6) one last chance to walk away with the win. Those five ticks were all Dobbs needed to drive the length of the court and fire a jumper from just inside the paint that bounced off the rim and to the backboard before falling through the net as time expired.

The 70-69 victory was Bryant's third buzzerbeater and fifth last-second win of the season, as Dobbs was one of four Bulldogs to register double-digit points. Fifth-year senior Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) paced the Bulldogs with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including four 3-pointers, while Dobbs chipped in 15 points, rookie Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) added 14 and frosh Matthew Lee (Bloomfield, N.J.) recorded 10 in just 13 minutes. Freshman Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia) added a career-high and team-best nine assists on the day.

Bryant shot a season-high 52.9 percent from beyond the arc (9-of-17), despite being edged by the Red Flash from the floor, 46 percent to 45.1 percent. The Bulldogs played superb defense in the game, particularly from long range, holding Saint Francis to just 5-for-18 shooting from 3-point land.

Down seven at the break, 33-26, the Bulldogs exploded out of the intermission after struggling to keep up in the first frame, with Francis scoring Bryant's first seven points to cut the deficit to 36-33. With a breath of new life, the visitors forced three turnovers and used a Gresham three to take a 41-40 lead with 13:45 to play – their first lead since owning a 9-8 edge seven minutes into the game.

Stingy defense and tough play on the boards allowed Bryant to keep out in front over the next seven minutes, as a quartet of Bulldogs chipped in to push the lead to 49-45 with 7:24 left in the game.

The Bulldogs would take their largest margin of the contest at the 2:40 mark, 61-51, on a Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) 3-pointer, but a 13-5 run by Saint Francis, capped off by a jumper in the paint by Shannon, would allow the Red Flash to pull within two with just 45 seconds remaining.

Dobbs would drain two free throws to push the lead back to four points, 68-64, but a jumper from Saint Francis's Will Felder and a turnover by Maynard would give the home side back the ball with just 16 ticks left on the clock.

Shannon would give the Red Flash the momentary lead with five seconds to play, but the advantage would be brief thanks to the buzzerbeating game winner by Dobbs.

With the victory, the Bulldogs tied the 2008-09 team for the most wins over members of the Northeast Conference (6) in a season, and Bryant will look to set a new standard when the team wraps up its three-game road trip with the start of NEC Rivalry Week Wednesday at Central Connecticut (7:00 p.m.).