Bulldogs take on St. Francis Brooklyn Thursday on ESPN3

FULL GAME NOTES
TV: ESPN3
Live Stats: bryantbulldogs.com
Follow along on Twitter: @BryantGameday

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team looks to secure home court advantage in the first round of next week's Northeast Conference Tournament with a victory over St. Francis Brooklyn on the road to kickstart the final weekend of regular-season action Thursday night on ESPN3. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m.

THE SERIES
Thursday's game marks the ninth all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and the Terriers, with St. Francis holding a 5-3 edge after Bryant took this season's series opener, 83-79, in Smithfield on January 25. The Black and Gold are winless on the road against the Terriers in three previous meetings.

SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
Preseason all-conference selection Jalen Cannon paces a St. Francis Brooklyn side that is currently fifth in the NEC standings, averaging 15.3 points per game with 8.1 boards each time out. Ben Mockford contributes 11.9 points per contest for the Terriers, who average 68.8 points with a 16-13 overall record in 2013-14. Martin Wayne and Amdy Fall dominate on the block with 39 and 42 stuffs, respectively, as the team has turned away 151 shots as a unit this season. The Terriers are shooting 42.8 percent as a team and outrebounding opponents, 37 to 34.2 on the year. St. Francis's 32.1 percent accuracy from distance is paced by Mockford, who is 79-of-195 (.405) from downtown on the season.

BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 9-5 against the Northeast Conference in 2013-14 with a 30-54 record (.357) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 44-71 (.382). 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 weekend of regular-season action, and Bryant is guaranteed a spot in the Northeast Conference Tournament for the second-straight season. Bryant is currently third in the NEC standings and would secure a home quarterfinal matchup with one more victory.

O'SHEA IT AIN'T SO
Junior Joe O'Shea has stepped up his game over the last two outings, scoring a season-high 19 points against Central Connecticut at home Saturday afternoon before adding 18 more in Monday's makeup game at Mount St. Mary's, going 7-of-12 from the field in both efforts. The swingman has started all 29 games for the Black and Gold this season and has posted four double-digit point outings in the last six contests. O'Shea averages 8.9 points per game on the season with a 46.4 percent shooting clip from the field and 34.9 percent accuracy from long range (29-83).

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 (2,054 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 eight double-doubles in his last 12 contests, posting one in each of the last two games, and has scored 20 or more points in 12 of the last 15 outings. Francis scored a game-high 22 points and added a game-best 10 rebounds Monday at Mount St. Mary's and now has 10 double-doubles on the year with 36 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, 2,054) and career rebounds (T-7th, 963).

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 Thursday'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 (19.1) and Francis (19.4) are currently tied as the fifth-highest scoring duo in the country, combining for 38.5 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 two 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 778), seventh in total points (2,054), fifth in career double-doubles (36), seventh in total rebounds (963), 14th in free throws made (485), 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 (.581) and is 44th in points per game (19.4) in games through last Sunday.

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 2,054 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 26 more points to take sole possession of fifth from 2013 Sacred Heart grad Shane Gibson. Francis also moves into a tie at the No. 7 spot on the league's all-time rebounding list, with 963 in his career.

Francis currently occupies spots in the NEC top-3 in scoring (19.4, tied for second), rebounding (8.1, tied for second) and field goal percentage (.581, 1st).

FRANCHISE FRANCIS: IN THE BRYANT RANKINGS
With two 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 185 more points to move up any farther in the rankings.

Francis enters Thursday's matchup ranked fourth on the rebounding charts with 963 in his career after passing Jason Noel with his 11 rebounds on Jan. 23. He needs 24 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.

UP NEXT
Bryant wraps up the regular season at LIU Brooklyn Saturday at 4:30 p.m.