Bulldogs take 60-55 win over UNH despite hour-long delay

DURHAM, N.H. – Despite a 48-minute interruption due to a campus-wide power outage in the game's final minutes, the Bryant University men's basketball team got back on track with a 60-55 road victory over the University of New Hampshire Sunday afternoon at Lindholm Gymnasium.

With the game knotted at 45-45 with 7:24 to play, the Bulldogs (3-2) would match the Wildcats (2-3) step-for-step until four-straight makes from junior guard Dyami Starks (Duluth, Minn.) at the free throw line afforded the visitors a 54-50 edge with less than five showing on the clock. The score would hold over the ensuing 90 seconds, leading up to the outage that put the UNH campus at a standstill for nearly an hour.

The teams wouldn't retake the court until 2:32 p.m., but after a 48-minute delay and five-minute warm-up, Jordon Bronner brought the Wildcats within one possession, 54-52, with 2:20 left in the contest. Senior point guard Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia) drained a three as the clock dipped under a minute, but Bronner would return the favor from deep in the corner to keep the score within two, 57-55, with 45 seconds to play.

The Bulldogs would turn the ball over with 40 seconds left, but Maynard would right his wrong with an immediate steal for a breakaway layup and four-point edge, 59-55, with 18.5 ticks to go. UNH would be forced to foul from there, and while Bryant went just 1-for-4 from the line in the final minute, it would be enough to hold on for a 60-55 victory.

Starks led the way with 19 points, including a 6-for-6 mark from the line to post a game high while senior forward Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) picked up his first double-double of the season and 27th of his career with 16 points and 10 boards. Maynard scored five points in the final 60 seconds to get into double figures (13 points), with junior Joe O'Shea (Burlington, Vt.) picking up 10.

Bronner and Jacoby Armstrong led the Wildcats with 15 points apiece while Chris Pelcher added 11 with a game-best 13 rebounds.

UNH started out the contest with a 7-0 advantage before the Bulldogs got on the board with a Starks jumper five minutes into the contest, and Bryant would use the basket to kickstart a 7-2 streak over the next three minutes. The Black and Gold scored just a single point over the next four minutes, though, as the Wildcats doubled up their visitors, 16-8, at the midway point of the opening stanza.

But the Bulldogs would keep their opponent off the scoreboard for more than five minutes from there, scoring 10 uninterrupted points of their own capped off by a Starks triple that gave Bryant its first lead of the afternoon, 18-16, at the 6:33 mark. The advantage would be short-lived, though, as Jacoby Armstrong came back to score six-straight points for the Wildcats and put the hosts back on top, 22-18.

The half seesawed back and forth from there, with the teams trading leads twice more before the break. UNH would get the final two scores of the frame, heading into the locker room with a 26-23 edge.

It was the Bulldogs who were graced with the scoring streak coming out of the break, however, as the visitors scored the first nine points of the frame after drawing back-to-back charges from the UNH starting ranks. Francis put an exclamation point on the run with a breakaway slam off a feed from O'Shea for a 32-26 advantage just three minutes in. It was his first of two dunks on the afternoon.

Bryant pulled away by seven, 40-33, with 13 minutes left on the clock, a deficit UNH made up over the next three minutes to knot the game at 42-42 and force the Black and Gold to call their first timeout of the frame. Armstrong scored seven of the team's nine points to bring the game to even, but the Wildcats took a hit with 9:13 to play, when Pelcher was forced to the bench after picking up his fourth foul. Armstrong would follow him minutes later, earning his fourth whistle with five left to play and the score tied at 50-50.

Starks would score four from the line off the consecutive fouls from Armstrong and Belcher leading up to the power outage that brought the contest to a halt, eventually ending in the 60-55 final.

As a team, the Bulldogs shot 40.5 percent to UNH's 34.8 percent from the field. The Wildcats won the battle on the glass, 40-36, but hit just five of their nine free throw opportunities. Bryant also struggled from the line, but hit 20 of its 30 chances at the stripe.

The Bulldogs will play once more before the Thanksgiving break, hosting intrastate rival Brown at the Chace Athletic Center Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.