SHU sweeps Rivalry Week with 72-46 win

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Northeast Conference leading scorer Shane Gibson scored a game-high 34 points and shot 64.7 percent from the floor to lead Sacred Heart to a 72-46 victory over the Bryant University men's basketball team, completing the season and Rivalry Week sweep Saturday afternoon at the Chace Athletic Center.

The Pioneer (13-14, 7-7 NEC) win came despite the seventh double-double of the season from Bryant (2-24, 1-13) leading scorer Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.), as the sophomore put up 16 points and a game-best 10 rebounds in 36 minutes. Bryant shot just 36 percent on the game with 21 turnovers and was outrebounded, 29-27.

Gibson shot 11-of-17 from the field with a trio of 3-pointers and a 9-of-10 mark from the line for Sacred Heart, as the Pioneers shot 56.8 percent in the contest. Justin Swidowski was the only other Sacred Heart player in double figures with 12 points, and Evan Kelley paced the visiting side on the glass with seen boards. Sacred Heart also struggled with turnovers, giving away 17 in the game, but earned 20 points off Black and Gold giveaways.

Despite the final margin, the game started out with a back-and-forth flow, with neither team leading by more than five points over the opening 15 minutes. Bryant opened up its largest lead of the frame at the 11:43 mark on a midrange jumper from Troy Robinson (Roslindale, Mass.) for an 11-6 edge, but the Pioneers would make up the gap over the next 50 seconds for the second tie of the game, 11-11, with under 11 minutes to play.

The teams traded scores over the next two minutes en route to the fourth and final knot, 15-15, but Gibson would put the Pioneers on top again quickly before a single Francis free throw cut the visitors' lead to one, 17-16, at the 6:44 mark.

And from there through half's final whistle, Sacred Heart stepped up on both ends of the floor to outscore the Bulldogs, 17-4, and take a commanding 34-20 lead into the locker room at the break. A layup from Francis at 4:15 and a jumper from Frankie Dobbs (Berea, Ohio) with 3:17 to play were the only interruptions to the steady stream of Pioneer points, 12 of them from Gibson as the junior posted 23 heading into the intermission.

Only four Pioneers scored throughout the opening 20 minutes, with Swidowski (7), Nick Greenbacker (3) and Louis Montes (1) combining for the remaining 11 of Sacred Heart's 34 first-half points.

Francis paced Bryant at the break with seven points, and both sides pulled in 12 rebounds. Turnovers plagued both the Bulldogs (10) and the Pioneers (13) through the opening stanza, though neither side capitalized completely on the giveaways. Bryant scored just seven points off turnovers in the frame to Sacred Heart's four.

The Pioneers shot 61.1 percent in the first session, a trend the visitors continued in the second, shooting 70 percent from the floor to open a 54-31 advantage eight minutes in.

Facing a 28-point deficit late in the half, the Bulldogs would score six-straight points to cut the score to 61-39, but that was the last push for the home side en route to a 72-46 defeat.

Bryant will leave town again this week for the final road trip of the 2011-12 season, traveling to Western Pennsylvania to take on Robert Morris (Thursday, 7 p.m.) and Saint Francis (PA) (Saturday, 11:30 a.m.) before returning home for the final two games of the year. Saturday's game against the Red Flash will be broadcast on MSG and Root Sports Pittsburgh.