Bulldogs play Blackbirds in season finale, Saturday at 4 p.m. in Brooklyn

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team closes the door on its 2015-16 campaign, taking on LIU Brooklyn on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

THE SERIES
Saturday's contest marks the 14th all-time between the Bulldogs and the Blackbirds, with this weekend's hosts holding an 8-5 edge in the series. It has been a series filled with streaks, as Bryant won four-straight meetings prior to the Jan. 16 loss of this year, and LIU had won six-consecutive matchups before the 2013-14 season.  

SCOUTING THE BLACKBIRDS
Sitting 9-8 and tied for sixth in the NEC with one game to play, the Blackbirds are just one game behind four teams tied for second and can still secure a home tilt in the first round of the league tournament. LIU will look to do so behind their four double-digit scorers that includes the NEC's third and fourth highest point getters in Jerome Frink (16.7 ppg) and Martin Hermannsson (16.4 ppg). Frink sits second in the conference with 9.0 boards per game and a 50.4 field goal percentage, while Hermannsson ranks third in field goal accuracy (46.7) and second (ninth nationally) with a .889 clip from the line. A pair of juniors in Aakim Saintil and Joel Hernandez follow with 13.2 and 11.6 points per contest, respectively. Saintil sits second in the conference in assists per game (4.9), and Hernandez ranks second among NEC scoring freshmen. As a unit, the Blackbirds rank second in the league in assists per game (13.7), scoring offense (76.1) and rebounds per contest (37.9), while sitting third in field goal accuracy with a .430 clip from the floor.    

TOP DAWGS VS. LIU BROOKLYN
Senior captain Shane McLaughlin averages 8.2 points in six career matchups with the Blackbirds, despite scoring just five points on Jan. 16. McLaughlin accumulates over 4.0 assists per game while shooting better than 50 percent from the floor and long range, as sophomore Hunter Ware dropped 14 points in these two teams' first meeting of the year. Rookies Nisre Zouzoua and Marcel Pettway poured in 13 and 20 points, respectively, on Jan. 16, with the latter snaring 10 caroms. Collectively, current Bulldogs are shooting 42.2 percent from the floor (63-149) and 36.5 percent (19-52) from beyond the arc against the Blackbirds.  
 
BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE  
The Bulldogs are 4-13 against Northeast Conference competition in 2015-16 with an overall record of 47-75 against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. Prior to the 2012-13 campaign, Bryant held a 9-44 record against conference opponents, but has recorded a 38-31 record over the last three seasons. The Black and Gold are 22-15 at home versus the NEC and 19-18 on the road since 2012-13. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 61-92.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs led by as many as nine points in the first half and held a two-point halftime edge, but were outscored, 16-3, to start the second stanza, and although they cut it to one point late in the game, could not pull ahead as they fell at St. Francis Brooklyn, 79-72, on Thursday. Four Bryant players finished in double-figures, as frosh Nisre Zouzoua paced the visitors with 23 points while tying his career high of five treys. Freshman bigman Marcel Pettway charted 17 points and eight boards, sophomore wing Hunter Ware tallied 14 points and Gus Riley added 11 points in 14 minutes off the bench. Antonio Jenifer charged the Terriers with 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Yunus Hopkinson helped guide the hosts with 17 points all coming in the second half. Chris Hooper statted 15 points and Amdy Fall blocked eight shots in the win. The Bulldogs shot 40 percent from the floor (26-65) and 31.8 percent from long range (7-22). The Terriers were held to a .192 clip from distance (5-26) but netted 45.6 percent of their shots from the field (26-57).  
 
QUICK HITS
» I'm the Helping Hand, Helper the Helping Hand: The Bulldogs distributed 20 assists in Thursday's loss at St. Francis Brooklyn, marking the first time they have registered 20 helpers since March 1, 2014. Since the 2012-13 season, Bryant has facilitated 20 or more assists in a game 10 times, and Thursday was just the second loss in such contests.  

» You Can Find Me In the 500 Club: Sophomore guard Hunter Ware scored his 500th career point at the 9:10 mark of the first half against the Knights on Feb. 11, making him the third fasted Bulldog (56 games) to accumulate 500 career points in the program's Division I history. Only Alex Francis ('14) and Dyami Starks ('15) accomplished the feat in fewer contests, doing so in 34 and 46 games, respectively.
 
» Roller Coaster: After opening conference play winning four of the first five games, the Bulldogs have dropped the last 13 NEC matchups. The Black and Gold have not been defeated in 13 or more league contests in a row since the 2011-2012 season.

DON'T DROP THAT HALF-TIME LEAD
The Bulldogs have lost four-straight games when leading at the half, two of which came at the hands of Saint Francis U., which the Bulldogs held a double-digit halftime edge over in both matchups against this season. After blowing their largest halftime lead in a losing effort against the Red Flash (17 points) on Jan. 21, Bryant fell to SFU on Feb. 4 after they attained a 10-point advantage before the intermission. The Bulldogs have lost just six games in which they held a double-figure halftime edge in their Division I tenure.

AND THESE FRESHMEN AIN'T NEVER DID THIS BEFORE, NO
The Bulldogs have a bright future in rookie bigman Marcel Pettway and first-year guard Nisre Zouzoua, but are well positioned in the present as well. The freshmen are averaging 11.2 and 12.3 points per game, respectively, to rank them fifth and first among NEC rookies. The forward-guard combo amasses 23.5 points per effort, and rank inside the top 15 among all newcomer scoring duos at the Division I level. Pettway and Zouzoua sit one and two among NEC freshmen, respectively, in points per game during league action with a 13.6 and 13.3 average, respectively.  

MODEL OF ASSISTANCY
Senior captain Shane McLaughlin nearly charted a triple-double by netting 21 points, grabbing a career-high 10 caroms, and dishing out eight assists in the 2OT win over Mount St. Mary's on Jan. 9, making the guard the first player in Bryant's Division I history to record at least 20 points, 10 boards and five assists in a game. McLaughlin has now distributed at least five assists in 13 of the last 19 contests. The Old Tappan, N.J. native leads the Northeast Conference in assists per game with 5.10 and 5.65 helpers in conference play.   

HIGH MILEAGE FOR MCLAUGHLIN
Senior point guard Shane McLaughlin is once again proving to be a workhorse for the Bulldogs on the court, playing 34 minutes or more in 26 of the season's 30 contests. The Old Tappan, N.J., native was third in the NEC last year with an average of 36.68 minutes per game and currently sits second as a senior with an average of 36.47 minutes per outing. As a starter (79 games), McLaughlin has played 37 minutes or more 41 times. He has played the entire game nine times in the span, including all 50 minutes in a double-overtime win against Sacred Heart in last year's NEC Tournament. McLaughlin logged 48 minutes on the floor in the double-overtime win over Mount St. Mary's on Jan. 9.  

ON THE REBOUND
The Bulldogs have been outrebounded in 25 of their 30 games this season, losing the battle on the glass in each of the first 12 games to begin the year. This was the first time in the program's Division I history the team had opened a campaign on the short side on the glass in 12-straight outings. The last time the Bulldogs were outboarded in more than seven-straight games at any point in a season was back in 2011-12, when the team lost the battle on the boards in nine-consecutive games from Nov. 27-Jan. 5. To find the last time the squad was outrebounded in 12 or more straight contests, you must look all the way back to the 2009-10 season, when the Bulldogs lost the board battle in 20 in a row from Dec. 3-Feb. 13. Bryant currently ranks 316th in rebounding margin (-5.2) among all DI teams.