Bearcats burn Bulldogs, 67-62, Saturday

VESTAL, N.Y. – Starting forwards Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) and Dan Garvin (Bethel, Conn.) both posted double-doubles, but the Bryant University men's basketball team couldn't shake off the cobwebs after a weeklong break, falling to Binghamton University, 67-62, on the road at the Events Center Saturday afternoon.

Francis finished the day with a side-best 15 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season, while his rookie counterpart picked up his third of the year with 13 points and 10 boards. He also added three blocks and two steals as arguably the Bulldogs' (7-7) top performer in the outing. Senior Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia) and junior Joe O'Shea (Burlington, Vt.) chipped in 10 points apiece, with the former adding seven assists and a trio of steals.

Jordan Reed paced the game with 16 points for the Bearcats (3-9), despite going just 4-for-11 from the free throw line, also pulling down a contest-high 11 rebounds. Marlon Beck registered a double-double of his own with 10 points and 10 helpers, while Rayner Moquete chipped in 12 for the hosts in a winning effort.

The Bulldogs looked unpolished through the opening 20 minutes after a weeklong break for the holidays, coughing up 10 turnovers in the first half alone to enter the intermission trailing, 34-29. The Bearcats scored 11 points off Bryant giveaways in the stanza and had eight second-chance points, outrebounding the Black and Gold, 22-18.

Big blocks early in the frame from Garvin and O'Shea – the latter's on a Bearcat breakaway – highlighted Bryant's first-half effort, and while the visitors came out cleaner in the second half, a late Binghamton charge and crucial whistles would go against the Bulldogs in the game's final minutes.

Binghamton led by as many as eight early in the second frame and held the margin through the 11-minute mark. But when Garvin followed up his own three-point play with his second block of the afternoon, a steal and dish by Declan Soukup (Melbourne, Australia) allowed the rookie to slam home his second dunk of the contest with 9:40 remaining to pull the visitors back within a single possession, 45-42.

Moquete's trey was answered by a trifecta from O'Shea with 8:44 to play, and over the next two minutes, the Black and Gold would whittle down Binghamton's lead, tying the game at 51-51 with 6:38 showing on the clock.

Garvin would reknot the score for Bryant with 5:56 to go, 54-54, but the Bulldogs would go cold from there, allowing Binghamton to pick up a 61-54 advantage heading into the final three minutes.

But after a 3:39 scoreless streak, Maynard finally got the Bulldogs going once more at the 2:17 mark with a jumper in the paint, following it up with a pair of makes from the line to pull within a single possession once again with 1:40 showing on the clock.

A Bearcat miss led to a layup for Francis that cut the score to 61-60 in Binghamton's favor entering the final 60 seconds, but when the senior was called for a foul on Moquete shooting three, it created a hole from which the Bulldogs could not recover, eventually falling, 67-62.

In the end, the Bulldogs narrowly outshot the Bearcats, .379 to .377, but were outboarded, 42-40.  Bryant turned the ball over 15 times to Binghamton's 14 miscues.

The Bulldogs will have little time to recover from the loss, as they host Patriot League stronghold Lehigh University at the Chace Athletic Center Monday night at 7 p.m. The contest will be broadcast live on the Ocean State Network and Cox Sports and can also be seen online at coxsportsonline.com or NECFrontRow.com.