Maynard, Francis pace Bulldogs to 95-68 win at FDU

Senior guard Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia) smashed his career best with a game-high 30 points while senior forward Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) picked up his fifth-straight 20-point outing as the Bryant University men's basketball team won its second-straight contest, 95-68, over Fairleigh Dickinson on the road Saturday.

Maynard went 12-for-15 from the floor and a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc to lead the Bulldogs (11-8, 3-1 Northeast Conference) in the victory. Francis's 22-point performance was complimented by seven rebounds, while sophomore Shane McLaughlin (Old Tappan, N.J.) made his third start of the season to contribute a career-best 10 points with eight assists in a career-most 39 minutes of action. In all, five Bulldogs would finish in double figures, as junior Dyami Starks (Duluth, Minn.) (15 points) and sophomore Curtis Oakley (South Euclid, Ohio) (13 points) got in on the scoring action as well. Junior Joe O'Shea (Burlington, Vt.) registered a game-best nine rebounds (6 assists).

Sidney Sanders Jr. paced the Knights (6-12, 2-2) with 21 points, while Mathias Seilund added 15 points and eight rebounds. FDU shot just 39.3 percent from the floor to Bryant's 58.9 percent clip, and the Black and Gold won the battle on the glass, 35-31.

A Francis layup broke an 8-8 tie just 3:26 into Saturday's contest to give the Bulldogs a lead they would never relinquish, as the visitors built the advantage to 10 points nine minutes into the first half.

The Bulldogs took a 20-point lead, 39-19, at the 4:29 mark and would head to the intermission with a commanding 52-31 advantage. Maynard would pace the frame with 18 points off 7-of-8 accuracy from the field, with Starks adding 12 more for Bryant. Sanders saw 15 of his 21 points come in the opening 20 minutes.

The Knights caught fire to start out the second half, though, scoring the first nine points of the frame to cut Bryant's lead down to 12 points, 52-40, with 17:50 left to play. And while the Bulldogs would get on the board seconds later, the visiting Black and Gold would see their lead dwindle to just seven points thanks to a 20-6 FDU run that brought the clock down to 12:25 remaining.

But the Bulldogs would put their foot back on the gas with six-straight points from Francis for a 64-51 lead with 10:52 to go, and Bryant would steadily continue to build that lead back to a 19-point margin as the clock ticked below the five-minute mark.

It was all the cushion Bryant would need to close out the victory in the team's first league road game of 2013-14.

The Bulldogs finished the game with 20 team assists for the third-straight contest and had six steals. FDU dished out just nine helpers but saw seven blocks, five coming from starting forward Scooter Gillette (7 points).

Bryant returns home to welcome its students back to campus this week and will host LIU Brooklyn Thursday night at the Chace Athletic Center live on MSG+, Cox Sports and Fox College Sports (7 p.m.).