Bryant overmatched in 79-40 loss at Yale Wednesday night

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale outscored the Bryant University men's basketball team, 43-16, in second-half action despite leading by just 12 at the break en route to a 79-40 win at John J. Lee Amphitheater Wednesday night.

The 40 points marks the sixth lowest single-game point total in Bryant (2-6) Division I history, and Wednesday's loss is the first time the Bulldogs have scored 40 points or fewer since Feb. 16, 2012 (69-40 loss at Robert Morris).

Junior forward Dan Garvin (Bethel, Conn.) led the Black and Gold with nine points and seven rebounds, also picking up his 93rd career block. Sophomore guards Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) and Hunter Ware (Powder Springs, Ga.), and frosh guard Nisre Zouzoua (Brockton, Mass.) each added seven points, as the Bulldogs failed to produce a double-digit scorer for the first time since Feb. 11, 2010.

The Black and Gold shot just 28.3 percent (15-53) from the floor and 19 percent (4-21) from deep. The team's free throw struggles also continued, as Bryant would shoot only 46.2 percent from the line (6-13).

Pacing the Yale (4-3) attack was Makai Mason (17 points), Sam Downey (16 points) and Nick Victor (14 points). Mason added a game-best six assists, while Downey and Victor pulled in seven and a contest-high eight rebounds, respectively. The home side converted 42.6 percent of its shots from the floor and 77.8 percent from the charity stripe while dominating the visitors on the glass, 51-30.

Ware would score the first five Bryant points with a triple and a deep two from the top of the key. Zouzoua connected on a corner three to give Bryant the 10-8 advantage – its first and only lead of the game – at the 15:16 mark.

Yale would respond with an 8-0 run, capped off by a Downey layup with 12:28 to play. Downey would score 12 of Yale's first 20 points, en route to a 14-point opening frame. He would shoot 100 percent from the floor (5-5) and from the charity stripe (6-6) in the contest.

With the score favoring Yale, 24-15, at the 8:47 mark, Ware would set up Garvin on the pick and roll for a two-handed slam to bring Bryant within seven.

The teams would go quiet offensively from there, with neither side converting a field goal for nearly four minutes. Senior guard Curtis Oakley Jr. (South Euclid, Ohio) would put an end to the scoreless streak with a jumper just outside the paint.

Ware would add a layup to cut the lead to four, 24-20, with 4:52 to play in the frame, but Bryant would get no closer, as Yale concluded the first stanza on a 12-4 run to take a 36-24 advantage into the locker room.

Garvin would get Bryant on the board in the opening possession of the second period to cut the deficit to 10 points, 36-26. Yale would answer with a 16-0 run over nearly seven full minutes to take a 52-26 lead at the 12:36 mark. Garvin would convert on a reverse layup to hose off the scoring drought for the Black and Gold.

The Yale lead continued to blossom, as the hosts stretched their run to 34-5 over the first 13 minutes of the second half. Bryant would be outscored, 43-16, in the frame, while shooting just 22.7 percent (5-22) from the floor as Yale handed the Black and Gold their largest defeat of the young 2015-16 season.

With the four-game road trip spanning eight days now in the past, the Bulldogs will return to the Chace Athletic Center for a matchup against intrastate rival Brown on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.