BRYANT TAKES ON NEC RIVAL CCSU SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT HOME (4 P.M.), FOLLOW INSIDE WITH LIVE BLOG

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SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University men's basketball team welcomes Northeast Conference rival Central Connecticut to the Chace Athletic Center Saturday afternoon to wrap up NEC Rivalry Week (4 p.m.). Saturday's game will be broadcast live locally on WOON 1240-AM or online at www.bryantbulldogs.com. A live webcast of the game can be seen at www.bryantbulldogs.tv.

The Bulldogs enter the contest looking to get back to .500 in conference play after dropping a 71-55 decision to the Blue Devils Wednesday night in the front end of the home-and-home series, played in New Britain, Conn. A win over CCSU would be the first for the Bulldogs against this opponent at the Division I level and would set a new single-season record for victories over Northeast Conference foes (7).

THE SERIES
This is the 18th meeting all-time between the Bulldogs and the Blue Devils, dating back to the 1973-74 season when CCSU kicked off the series with an 89-87 win at home. Central Connecticut currently holds an 11-6 advantage in the all-time series and has taking the last nine meetings between the sides, including Wednesday night's 71-55 decision over the Bulldogs in New Britain, Conn. Of the 17 previous matchups, 13 came at the Division II level (from the 1973-74 season through the 1987-88 campaign), and the Bulldogs are winless in four DI meetings. Bryant is 3-5 all-time against the Blue Devils at the Chace Center, having dropped a 60-34 decision the last time CCSU traveled to Smithfield, R.I., on February 4, 2010. But the last time the Bulldogs' took a win over Central also came on home turf, when Bryant took a 77-73 victory during the 1980-81 season.

MORE ON NEC RIVALRY WEEK
With bragging rights at stake, the Northeast Conference's second-annual Rivalry Week is set to take flight, with six pairs of men's and women's hoops rivals set to meet in home-and-home contests from February 9-14. The innovative concept of playing back-to-back games against a local rival the same week is the only one of its kind among the nation's 31 NCAA Division I conferences.

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS
CCSU makes the return trip to Rhode Island riding a seven-game winning streak and sits just one game out of first place in the NEC standings. The Blue Devils currently rank first in the league ranks in scoring defense, surrendering an NEC-best 64.3 points per game, and sit second in the league with a team field goal percentage above 44 percent (44.3). The Blue Devils, winners of 13 of their last 15 contests, are led by junior forward and preseason all-conference selection Ken Horton, who paces the squad with a league-best 18.8 points per game and put up an impressive 23 points on the Bulldogs just four days ago. Horton's 8.6 boards per outing rank second in the conference — he pulled down 11 Wednesday night — and the junior bigman has 39 blocks and 36 steals so far this season after recording six of each in the Rivalry Week opener. Joining Horton at the head of the scoring pack is junior guard Robby Ptacek, who is dropping in 15.9 points to go along with four boards per outing (15p, 6r Wednesday). Shemik Thompson paces the team with 124 assists on the year after dishing out eight in the last meeting, while eight Blue Devils are shooting 40 percent or better from the field.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs look to wrap up Rivalry Week with their seventh NEC victory of the season, a win that would not only bring the team back to even in league play, but also set a new program mark for wins over Northeast Conference opponents in a season. Since joining the Division I ranks, Bryant has gone 13-32 against current Northeast Conference members, with six of those wins coming in the program's inaugural DI season (2008-09) and six more coming to date in 2010-11. All-time against current NEC members, the Bulldog basketball program is 41-86, having most frequently faced off against former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) member Quinnipiac (17-39).

COMMON DENOMINATOR
Outside Northeast Conference competition, Bryant and Central Connecticut have faced off against a pair of common opponents in 2010-11. The Blue Devils were able to knock off Army, 101-87, on Nov. 15 and defeated Brown, 67-51, on Dec. 29. The Black and Gold dropped their 2010-11 home opener to Army, 76-66, at the Chace Athletic Center and fell on the road in the team's outing against intrastate rival Brown, 84-71, on Dec. 31.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bryant University men's basketball team had just a two-point deficit at halftime but couldn't overcome 11 second-half turnovers Wednesday night against Central Connecticut, falling to the Blue Devils, 71-55, to kick off the Northeast Conference's 2011 Rivalry Week at Detrick Gym.

Bryant started out sharp, as four-straight Bulldog threes and 10-consecutive points from rookie Matt Lee gave the visitors an 18-12 edge as the clock fell under the 13-minute mark, a 10-point swing after trailing 6-2 three minutes in. Bryant would build that lead to 24-14 at the 11:14 mark, but the advantage wouldn't last long, as the Central Connecticut defense proved to be stifling on its home court, forcing turnovers and a less-than-ideal shot selection that held the visiting Bulldogs scoreless over the next 6:04 while the Blue Devils made up the 10-point deficit and then some, taking a 28-24 edge with under 7:30 to play in the half.

A three from Lee – his third of the game -- and a steal and consequent breakaway dunk from the rookie 13 seconds later broke the Bulldogs free of the drought, pulling the Black and Gold back on top for a temporary 29-28 lead, but the home side would get the final points of the frame to send Bryant into the locker room with a slight 31-29 deficit.

But out of the break, the Bulldogs began turning the ball over at an alarming rate – three in the opening 2:17 – scoring just four points through the first 4:38 to give the Blue Devils the time they needed to extend their lead to a 44-33 margin. All of Central's first 13 points came from the hands of junior forwards Ken Horton and Chris Baskerville, who would finish the night with a game-high 23 and 11 points, respectively.

The Bulldogs couldn't find their control as time went on either, giving the ball away eight times before the second television break as the home side opened up a 50-37 gap. The Blue Devils would score 11 more before the next Bryant basket – a stretch of 7:18 – to take a 61-40 advantage at the 6:43 mark. And the never-say-die Bulldogs wouldn't pull a last-minute magic act this time around, eventually falling, 71-55, despite cutting the home team's lead from 23 points to 16 three times in the final four minutes.

Bryant struggled to control the fouls early on and would send Central Connecticut to the line 19 times in the second half alone, and the Blue Devils missed just twice from the charity stripe all day (22-for-24). The Bulldogs went just 7-of-15 from the foul line and shot 33.3 percent from the floor in the affair.

Rookie Alex Francis paced the Black and Gold on the night, recording his sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Lee's 15 points were a team best for the visiting side, who turned the ball over 17 times in the affair. Senior Cecil Gresham would also register double-figure points in the outing, with 11. Central Connecticut would grab an impressive 13 steals on the night, a game-high six coming from Horton, who also went 9-for-17 from the field with six blocks.

THE BIG THREE
The Bulldogs' recent successes are due in large part to the combination of Frankie Dobbs, Alex Francis and Cecil Gresham. Between the last second game-winning shots, key rebounds and clutch shooting, Dobbs, Gresham and Francis have accounted for 58 percent of the team's scoring this season (947 of 1633) while accumulating 45.1 percent of the team's 827 total rebounds (373). The trio is currently representing the top three in scoring for the Bulldogs with rookie Francis averaging a team-high 13.9 per outing. Gresham is right behind the lead with 13.6 per contest, while Dobbs is pouring in 12.0 points a night to compliment an impressive 39.3 percent of the team's assists on the year (128). The three all rank in the conference's top-20 in minutes per game and combine for over 46 percent of the team's total minutes on the season, while one of Bryant's Big Three has led the Bulldogs in scoring in all but three contests.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE
Rookie Alex Francis recorded his team-leading sixth double-double of the se­ason Wednesday night against the Blue Devils, scoring 12 points to go along with a team-best 10 rebounds despite the loss. Francis's last double-double came January 15 against the Pioneers on the road, when he chipped in 12 points to compliment a team-high 11 rebounds in the 72-59 win.

As a team, the Bulldogs have collected eight double-doubles so far this season spread across three different players, with sophomores Vlad Kondratyev and Frankie Dobbs each registering his first-career double-double earlier during the 2010-11 campaign. Kondratyev's double-double effort came on January 6 against Long Island (10p, 13r), a game that saw Francis register a double-double of his own (18p, 10r) to mark the first time in the program's DI history that two such efforts were achieved in the same contest. Dobbs collected his first-career double-double on December 11 at Columbia, scoring 14 points with a career-high 10 assists. Francis opened his career with back-to-back double-double performances, becoming the first NEC freshman to do so since November 1998, also scoring a double-double performance against Brown (21p, 13r).

FREE, BUT NOT SO EASY
The Bulldogs have struggled at the free throw line all season long, connecting on just 65 percent of the team's chances from the charity stripe, but the Bulldogs have also been quite liberal in how many opportunities they give away. Bulldog opponents are averaging 3.52 more free throw attempts per game through 25 contests and are making nearly all of them, as Bryant's competition also averages 3.48 more made free throws per outing on the year. Wednesday against CCSU was no exception, as the Blue Devils made 22 of their 24 freebies to Bryant's 7-of-15 mark from the foul line.

COUNTRY ROADS, TAKE ME HOME
Despite its 3-4 mark on the road in Northeast Conference action, Bryant is 3-10 on the road this season as a whole and is 4-11 in games away from home. The Bulldogs are 4-6 at home this season and 3-3 in NEC play at the Chace Athletic Center, having won four of their last seven contests in Smithfield, R.I.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs continue on with their final homestand of the season, hosting Quinnipiac on Thursday, Feb. 17 (7 p.m.) and wrapping up 2010-11 home action with a 2 p.m. televised Senior Day contest against Sacred Heart on Saturday, Feb. 19.