Starks scores 1,000th point, vaults Bulldogs to 87-79 victory over LIU Brooklyn

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Just 49 seconds into the second half and 10 points in his 23-point performance, junior guard Dyami Starks (Duluth, Minn.) netted his 1,000th-career point, leading the Bryant University men's basketball team to an 87-79 victory over LIU Brooklyn Thursday night at the Chace Athletic Center.

Starks becomes the 34th player in program history and third in the last two seasons to achieve the feat. The junior sharpshooter was one of two Bulldogs (12-8, 4-1 Northeast Conference) to finish with over 20 points on the night, with senior Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) adding a game-best 24, complimenting the outing with a contest-high 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season (30th of his career). The performance marked Francis's sixth-straight 20-point outing.

Senior point guard Jason Brickman also recorded a double-double for the Blackbirds (6-12, 1-4), dishing out 13 assists to go with 15 points, while Landon Atterberry paced LIU Brooklyn with 18 and Gerrell Martin added 17 more.

After entering the intermission trailing, 42-32, Bryant exploded in the second half, outscoring the Blackbirds, 55-37, on 56.3 percent shooting and a 60 percent clip from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes. The Bulldogs would end up with the 38-35 edge on the glass and finished the contest shooting 49.2 percent.

Despite the final, though, the game wasn't tight for long in the opening half, with LIU Brooklyn breaking a 16-16 tie with a 17-7 run that lasted just over four minutes and gave the visitors a 10-point advantage, 33-23, with 4:11 left in the opening frame. That margin would stick through the end of the first half, with Atterberry leading the Blackbirds to a 42-32 advantage at the intermission.

But the storyline would change after the break, starting with the Starks layup that sent the Bulldog into the elite 1,000-point club just 49 seconds into the frame.

Starks would cut the Blackbirds' lead to six, 51-45, with his fourth trey of the night less than five minutes into the stanza, and sophomore Curtis Oakley (South Euclid, Ohio) (14 points) followed it up with another trifecta from the top of the arc 30 seconds later. Francis would block an E.J. Reed attempt on the LIU counterattack, and a Joe O'Shea (Burlington, Vt.) rebound led to a breakaway layup by Starks to cut the visitors' lead to just one, 51-50.

Bryant would cap off the 11-0 run with a corner three from Starks for the Bulldogs' first advantage since the early minutes of the contest, 53-51. The stretch took just over two minutes and was part of a longer 16-2 run favoring the Bulldogs.

Three 3-pointers in three possessions for the Blackbirds would renew the visitors' edge minutes later, 60-55, but five-straight points from O'Shea would even the score once more, 60-60, with 10:43 left on the clock.

Bryant made it nine uninterrupted points for a four-point advantage by the 9:30 mark, and a Francis three-point play with 6:08 remaining gave the home side a 73-66 lead – its largest of the contest to that point.

Oakley gave the Black and Gold their first double-digit lead on his third trifecta of the night with 5:23 to play, 76-66, but back-to-back threes from Martin with less than three minutes to play cut Bryant's lead down to five, 82-77, entering the final 90 seconds.

But after two made free throws from senior guard Corey Maynard (Adelaide, Australia) (13 points, 9 assists), the Blackbirds would be forced to start fouling as the game entered the final minute. Bryant would hit their opportunities from the line to secure its first victory over LIU Brooklyn since January 2009.

The Bulldogs remain at home for their final game of the week and will host St. Francis Brooklyn Saturday at 1 p.m. Saturday's contest will be broadcast live on Cox Sports and the Ocean State Network.