Bryant looks for road win at Mount Monday (8:30p)

FULL GAME NOTES
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SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team travels to Knott Arena on the campus of Mount St. Mary's Monday night at 7 p.m. for a rescheduled matchup against the Mountaineers. Monday begins a three-game road trip that will wrap up the regular season for the Black and Gold.

THE SERIES
Mount St. Mary's has won eight of 11 all-time meetings between these two programs, but the teams are 2-2 in the last four outings after Bryant's three-point home victory Feb. 8. All three of the Bulldogs' victories over the Mount have come at the Chace Athletic Center, and nine of the 11 all-time tilts have come at the Division I level, with the series beginning on Dec. 28, 1982 in Emmitsburg, Md. Bryant enters Monday looking for its first victory in Emmitsburg and a chance to sweep the season series.

SCOUTING THE MOUNT
Mount St. Mary's three top scorers all performed well against the Bulldogs the first time around, with leading scorer Julian Norfleet (17.7 ppg) scoring 14 while dishing out six assists. Rashad Whack (17.1 ppg) led all Mount scorers with 21 points and was hot from 3-point range, converting 6-of-8 attempts from downtown. Taylor Danaher, who averages just 6.8 points and 5.3 rebounds on the season, had a breakout game of his own with the team's only double-double, finishing the day with 19 points and a game-best 12 rebounds. As a team, Mount St. Mary's averages 75.8 points per game but allows 80.0 and is shooting at a 43.4 percent clip from the field.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 9-4 against the Northeast Conference in 2013-14 with a 30-53 record (.361) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 44-70 (.385). Bryant went 12-6 against league opponents last season, finishing tied for second in the regular-season standings to earn a No. 4 seed in the 2013 NEC Tournament.

BULLDOGS CLINCH NEC TOURNAMENT BERTH
Seven of the league's eight postseason berths have been clinched entering the final week of regular-season action, and Bryant is guaranteed a spot in the Northeast Conference Tournament for the second-straight season. Bryant is currently tied for second with Wagner and would secure a home quarterfinal matchup with one more victory.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB
Senior guard Corey Maynard laid in a breakaway basket 3:41 into the second half Saturday against Central Connecticut and with the score became the 35th and newest member of Bryant's 1,000-point club. The Aussie native is the second Bulldog this season to join the elite group, after junior guard Dyami Starks scored his 1,000th at home on Jan. 23 against LIU Brooklyn. Over the last two seasons, four players have now accomplished the feat, with current senior Alex Francis (2,032 points) and Director of Operations Frankie Dobbs (1,232 points) each joined the club in 2012-13.

FRANCIS FANTASTIC
Bulldog standout Alex Francis has been on fire as of late. The senior forward has scored 20 or more points in 11 of the last 14 contests and has seven double-doubles in the last 11 games after his 12-point, season-high 13-rebound outing Saturday against the Blue Devils. Francis also posted a career-high six assists in the contest and now boasts nine double-doubles on the year with 35 on his Bulldog career.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING: FRANCIS SCORES 2,000TH POINT
In what has already been a season filled with milestones, senior forward Alex Francis reached yet another historic height, recording the 2,000th point of his collegiate career at Wagner Feb. 16. Francis becomes just the sixth player in NEC history to reach the 2,000-point mark and just the third in program annals, joining only Tom Smile (2,390 from 1963-67) and Ernie DeWitt (2,239 from 1977-81). The NEC Player of the Year hopeful has put himself in a class all this own this season and is the first player in NEC history to achieve a top-10 ranking in both career points (6th, 2,032) and career rebounds (8th, 953).

And his next milestone is right within reach. Francis has the potential to become the first player in NEC history to score 2,000 points and pull down 1,000 rebounds before closing out his exceptional career. He enters Monday's matchup as the NEC's active leader scoring and rebounding.

POTENT PAIR
There have been some great one-two punches in NEC basketball in recent years, but over the last two years, senior forward Alex Francis and junior guard Dyami Starks take a back seat to no one. In fact, Starks (19.3) and Francis (19.4) are currently tied as the fifth-highest scoring duo in the country, combining for 38.7 points per game this season. Only pairs from Oral Roberts (40.6), VMI (39.1), Auburn (39.0) and Louisiana-Lafayette (39.0) average more in tandem.

Starks and Francis could go down as the NEC's highest scoring duo since LIU Brooklyn Charles Jones (29.0) and Mike Campbell (19.7) combined for 48.7 points per game in 1997-98. The St. Francis Brooklyn duo of Steven Howard (20.2) and Richy Dominguez (19.1) totaled 39.5 points per outing and ranked one-two in the NEC in scoring in 2000-01. Francis currently ranks third in the league and Starks fourth in point production.

T-3
With three regular-season games and at least one postseason contest to go, Bryant needs three more victories to record its first 20-win season at the Division I level.

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA rankings, Bryant senior forward Alex Francis currently sits among the top active NCAA Division I players in numerous categories. As of February 23, the senior is ranked second in career field goals (currently 770), seventh in total points (2,032), fifth in career double-doubles (35), seventh in total rebounds (953), 14th in free throws made (479), 15th in career scoring average (17.1 ppg) and 25th in rebounding average (8.0). He is one of just three active players to have 2,000 points and 750 rebounds to his name. Francis also ranks 19th in field goal percentage this season (.580) and is 44th in points per game (19.4).

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE NEC RANKINGS
Bryant senior forward Alex Francis reached yet another plateau on his march up the NEC career scoring chart and currently ranks sixth all-time with 2,032 career points. He has now passed three NEC Hall of Famer in his trip up the league's all-time scoring ladder (FDU's Desi Wilson, Marist's Rik Smits, RMU's Myron Walker), and the senior forward will now look  to cross into the NEC top-5. He needs 48 more points to take sole possession of fifth from 2013 Sacred Heart grad Shane Gibson. Francis also sits in the No. 8 spot on the league's all-time rebounding list (953), needing 10 more to move up in those ranks.

Francis currently occupies spots in the NEC top-3 in scoring (19.4, third), rebounding (8.0, third) and field goal percentage (.580, 1st).

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE BRYANT RANKINGS
With three regular-season games still to play, senior forward Alex Francis is already seated among the greatest scorers and rebounders the program has ever seen. His 24-point performance Jan. 23 against LIU Brooklyn vaulted him into third on the all-time scoring list, however Francis would need 207 more points to move up any farther in the rankings.

Francis enters Monday's matchup ranked fourth on the rebounding charts with 953 in his career after passing Jason Noel with his 11 rebounds on Jan. 23. He needs 34 more to reach third all time. He also ranks in the program's top-10 in scoring average, field goals, field goal percentage, free throws made and rebounding average.

DUNK COUNT
The dunk count is on once again in 2013-14. The reign of senior Alex Francis still holds strong, but rookie forward Dan Garvin has also gotten some hangtime this season, with the pair combining for 35 dunks. Junior Dyami Starks threw down his first dunk of his Bulldog career in a win over St. Francis Brooklyn Jan. 25 and classmate Joe O'Shea scored the first slam of his career on Saturday to bring the total to 37 on the year.

A CONCENTRATED EFFORT
The Bulldogs have certainly added depth in 2013-14, but the Bryant bench has yet to prove it on the scoreboard. Against Division I opponents this season, just three Bulldog starters — junior Dyami Starks and seniors Alex Francis and Corey Maynard — are responsible for more than 70 percent of Bryant's total scoring (1406 of 2002 points). If you go outside the starting lineup, Bryant's bench has contributed just 244 points so far this season (12.2 percent).

UP NEXT
Bryant plays its final weekend set of the regular season, starting off with a Thursday night bout at St. Francis Brooklyn that will be aired live on ESPN3.