Zouzoua and Pettway combine for 32 points in Bulldogs' 78-67 road loss to Blue Devils Thursday night

NEW BRITAIN, CONN. – The Bryant University men's basketball team went into the halftime locker room with a five point lead, but was outscored, 46-30, in the second frame and dropped the Northeast Conference battle to Central Connecticut State University, 78-67, Thursday night at Detrick Gymnasium.

The freshman combo of Nisre Zouzoua (Brockton, Mass.) and Marcel Pettway (North Providence, R.I.) paced the Bulldogs (7-15, 4-5 NEC) with 19 and 13 points, respectively. Zouzoua netted a career-high five triples, while Pettway snared 10 boards for his seventh double-double of the year. Junior Dan Garvin (Bethel, Conn.) poured in 10 points with seven rebounds, while sophomore Hunter Ware (Powder Springs, Ga.) added 12 points in the loss.

Brandon Peel spearheaded the Blue Devils (2-18, 1-8) and led all performers with 22 points and 18 caroms, going 8-of-14 from the floor. Jahlil Nails scored 17 points, while Khalen Cumberlander, Austin Nehls, and Evan Phoenix posted 12, 10 and 10 points, respectively, as the ladder grabbed eight ricochets.

The Bulldogs shot over 40 percent from the floor in the opening half and hit five first-frame treys, but hit just 37.5 percent of their shots in the second stanza (12-32) and connected on just two of their 16 3-point attempts. The Blue Devils shot at a .365 clip from the floor in the opening frame, but converted 52 percent of their shots from the field in the second half (13-25).

A Ware jumper gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the contest, 55-44, with 13:04 to play in final frame. The Blue Devils went full beast mode from that point on, outscoring the Black and Gold 34-12 to close out the game.

How It Happened

After leading by as many as nine in the opening stanza, the Bulldogs went into the halftime locker with a 37-32 edge. Bryant opened up the scoring in the second half with Zouzoua's fifth trey of the game just 38 second in to grab a 40-32 advantage. The road-side margin did not dip below six points over the ensuing six minutes of action, though it did not extend to larger than eight.

Garvin found a cutting Pettway along the baseline with a beautiful bounce pass that led to a two-handed flush to make it 53-44 at the 13:35 mark of the frame. Ware hit his jumper on the following offensive trip for Bryant to give it the 11 point advantage.

Phoenix connected on consecutive layups to kickstart a 9-0 host run over the next 2:30. After nearly two full minutes of no baskets from either side, Zouzoua denied a Nails jumper, and the frosh finished with a two-handed layup in transition after a nice chest-pass from Shane McLaughlin (Old Tappan, N.J.) to keep the Bulldogs ahead, 57-53, with 8:41 to play in the second.

Trailing by five, 59-54, with eight minutes remaining, Nehls drained a triple to ignite a 7-0 Blue Devil run to give them their first lead, 60-59, since the 12:16 mark of the opening stanza. The Bulldogs still trailed by one, 62-61, with under five minutes to play in the second half, but McLaughlin connected on a jumper as the shot clock expired to give the visitors back the lead, 63-62, with 4:46 on the clock.

Nehls scored the next five points for the Blue Devils, who took control of contest with another 7-0 run that was capped off by a Peel jumper from the foul line extended to make it 69-63 with just three minutes to go.

The Black and Gold went just 2-for-10 over the final 4:15 and could not get any closer than five points, as it dropped its fourth-straight contest and fell to 4-5 in conference play.

Bryant will remain in Connecticut, taking on Sacred Heart on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The weekend tilt against the Pioneers can be heard on WOON 1240 AM (Jon Wallach).