FINISH IT

The Bulldogs look to finish 2010-11 with a win over St. Francis (NY) in Saturday's season finale

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SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team wraps up its 2010-11 season Saturday afternoon with a 4:30 p.m. matchup at St. Francis (NY) in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. Bryant looks to complete its first series sweep of the season by topping the Terriers again, having taking a 67-64 decision at home back on Jan. 8. The Bulldogs also get one last chance to reach double-digit wins for the first time since joining the Division I ranks in Saturday's season finale.

THE SERIES
This is the fifth meeting all-time between the Bulldogs and the Terriers, with St. Francis (NY) holding a 3-1 edge in the all-time series. The Bulldogs earned their first-ever win over the Terriers in the last head-to-head meeting back on Jan. 8 to kick off a four-game winning streak when freshman Corey Maynard played the hero, nailing a 3-pointer with less than five ticks left on the clock to give the home side the 67-64 victory. But the Bulldogs have kept it close throughout the series, dropping a pair of contests last season by a combined 15 points, as Bryant fell, 54-48 and 69-60 (OT), in the 2009-10 season series. The Black and Gold dropped the inaugural meeting between the two programs, 82-66, at the Chace Athletic Center on Feb. 19, 2009.

SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
St. Francis (NY) enters Saturday's regular-season finale the winner of three straight and currently sit tied for fifth in the NEC with a 14-14 overall record and a 9-8 league mark. The Terriers knocked off Central Connecticut, 75-65, Thursday night, avenging an 18-point loss to the Blue Devils back on Jan. 6 and can secure themselves the fifth seed in the Northeast Conference Tournament with a win over the Bulldogs. St. Francis (NY) is ranked sixth in the league, putting up 66.7 points per night despite shooting a league-worst 31 percent from beyond the arc. The Terriers are led by senior guard Ricky Cadell, who paces the team with 15.9 points per game and 141 made field goals while ranking second on the team in minutes played (31.3 mpg). Senior swingman Akeem Bennett, who currently leads the squad in steals (74) and rebounds (152), ranks first in the NEC with 2.74 steals per outing and 13th with 5.6 boards per contest. Joining Bennett on the glass is sophomore forward Akeem Johnson, who is pulling down 5.1 boards to go along with his 9.1 points per game. Bennett and Johnson are part of a defense that tops the conference at 7.89 steals per game and an offense that is second to none with a +3.25 turnover margin entering the final game of the regular season. Junior guard Dre Calloway has dished out a team-best 90 assists on the year, giving the Harlem native 3.46 handouts a night. Matt Milk has put up 18 blocks to lead the Terriers in the category in 2010-11.

LAST TIME AGAINST ST. FRANCIS (NY)
With less than five seconds remaining in a tie game, freshman Corey Maynard 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) at the Chace Athletic Center.

Down by two, 64-62, Frankie Dobbs missed the front end of a one-and-one, but senior Cecil Gresham 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 to play in the contest. St. Francis came down the floor on the next possession, but senior sharpshooter Ricky Cadell's shot was off target and senior Barry Latham pulled in the rebound, passing the ball off to Dobbs to set up Maynard's game-winning heroics. 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. Gresham recorded a game-high 24 points in the victory, as the senior shot 76.9 percent for the floor and hit a season-high 10 field goals in 13 tries, including four 3-pointers. Latham added a season-high 10 points on the affair as St. Francis's Akeem Bennett and Akeem Johsnon combined for 28 points to go along with Ricky Cadell's 18 tallies. As a team, the Bulldogs shot at a then-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.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs enter Saturday's matchup with a 3-5 mark in last eight games against the NEC, having lost their last three outings. Bryant will look to avoid its longest conference losing streak of the season (4) and try to pick up the program's first 10-win season at the Division I level with a win over the Terriers in the 2010-11 finale. Since joining the Division I ranks, Bryant has gone 14-35 against current Northeast Conference members, with six of those wins coming in the program's inaugural DI season (2008-09) and seven more coming to date in 2010-11. All-time against current NEC members, the Bulldog basketball program is 42-89, having most frequently faced off against former Northeast-10 Conference (DII) member Quinnipiac (18-40).

THE HARLEM TROTTER
If you thought Bryant freshman Alex Francis was impressive before, check him out now: The Harlem native dropped a career-high 43 points on top-seeded Long Island Thursday night on the road, marking the most points scored by any player in the Northeast Conference on the 2010-11 season. But that's not all.

Francis scored more than half of the Bulldogs' points on the night, even as the team tied the Division I program record for points scored in a game (85). The 43-point output came on 20-of-27 shooting from the field and came against the top team in the conference, an LIU squad ranked No. 18 in the nation in the most current Mid-Major Top-25 poll. It also came with the help of just a trio of free throws (3-for-4). But that's not all, either.

The first-year forward's career performance was the third-highest individual scoring effort in school history and the most points scored in a single game in the program's Division I history. His 20 made field goals rank second all-time in that category and are also tops since the Bulldogs joined Division I. Keep reading.

Moving out to a conference perspective, Francis set a new rookie record for points scored in a Northeast Conference matchup, is tied for ninth on the all-time NEC single-game charts and set a new all-time league mark with his 20 made field goals. His 43 points bested the previous high scoring mark this season (38 by Quinnipiac's James Johnson vs. Robert Morris on Jan. 27) and are the most points scored since LIU's Antawn Dobie set the current NEC record with 53 points against St. Francis (NY) back on Feb. 22, 2003. But he is still not done.

Francis also made waves on the national scene with his outpouring of points. The 6-foot-6 forward recorded the highest single-game output of any freshman in Division I this season Thursday against the Blackbirds. The 43 points ties him for the fifth-most points scored in a game in the nation in 2010-11, and his 20 field goals are good for tops in the country. Historically, Francis's 43 points are the most recorded by a freshman since Michael Beasley scored 44 against Baylor back in 2008. Also, since Francis didn't get the start Thursday after a one-point outing last Saturday against Sacred Heart, his record-setting night is also tied for the second-most points scored off the bench in Division I in the past 15 seasons.

MORE ON FRANCIS
Francis's 43 points upped his season scoring average an entire point, as the rookie jumped to a team-leading 14.4 points per game. With the season finale against St. Francis (NY) still to play, Francis already ranks 15th on the single-season scoring list, needing just two points to overtake Jon Wallace (2002-03) at No. 14, seven points to move up to No. 13 and 13 points to enter the top-12. Francis has made 162 field goals in 2010-11, a number already good for seventh on the single-season list, though he would need another monstrous performance — 10 more baskets — to take over the No. 6 spot (Jason Noel, 171 in 2001-02). If the season were to end today, he would also finish in the top-10 in free throws made (8th, 94) and rebounding average (T-6th, 7.9) and would finish just outside the top-10 in Bryant's single-season program records for scoring average (14.4 ppg), field goal percentage (.506) and rebounds (229).

TREND SETTERS
Francis isn't the only Bulldog leaving a mark on the record books with his 2010-11 season performance. Sophomore point guard Frankie Dobbs is ranked second all-time in single-season assists with 153 entering Saturday's season finale and is also already ranked in the top for 3-pointers made (T-9th, 61), free throws made (10th, 82) and points (T-24th, 359) in a single season. Senior forward Cecil Gresham also has a place in numerous career, single-season and game records, including: single-season 3-point percentage (8th, 42.0%), single-season 3-pointers made (8th, 66) and single-season points (20th, 372), a list in which he already holds the No. 19 and No. 24 rankings. (See Reaching Milestones below for more on where Gresham's career marks are landing him.)

UNSEASONABLY HOT
As a team, Bryant set new season highs for field goals made (37) and field goals attempted (81), besting previous season highs by eight and 13, respectively. The 81 shots taken by the Bulldogs falls just three shy of tying the all-time program mark (84 vs. Dowling College, Dec. 20, 2003). The Black and Gold also tied the 2010-11 top marks in rebounds (46) and blocks (5) Thursday against LIU.

GLASS GUZZLERS
The Bulldogs have outrebounded their opponents just nine times this season, and have done so most recently against Long Island University on Thursday night. Bryant saw its two highest rebounding outputs of the season come in losses to LIU, pulling in 46 each time the teams faced off in 2010-11, but Bryant has outrebounded its opponent in four of the team's nine wins on the year. On the season, the Black and Gold have won the battle on the glass against: LIU (46-40 and 46-45), Mount St. Mary's (39-33), St. Francis (39-24), Oberlin (39-31), Michigan (33-32), Boston College (35-23), Harvard (34-33) and Iona (40-31). Freshman Alex Francis has led the team on the boards 21 times on the year, while Vlad Kondratyev and Cecil Gresham have paced the Bulldogs on five and four occasions, respectively.