#5 Bulldogs drop 100-78 decision to #4 Saint Francis in NEC Quarterfinals

LORETTO, Pa. – All-NEC First Team sophomore Nisre Zouzoua (Brockton, Mass.) led the fifth-seeded Bryant University men's basketball team with 22 points, but the hot shooting of Isaiah Blackmon and fourth-seeded Saint Francis U. was too much for the Bulldogs, who fell, 100-78, at DeGol Arena in the 2017 NEC Quarterfinals Wednesday night.

Zouzoua went 8-of-22 from the floor and 3-for-9 from distance for the Bulldogs (12-20), while junior Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) and rookies Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.) and Sabastian Townes (Chesapeake, Va.) each added 12 points in the loss. The Red Flash (15-15) was able to limit the league's top rookie scorer in Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) to just eight points on 3-for-10 shooting and kept sophomore bigman Marcel Pettway (North Providence, R.I.) to just four points on the night. Pettway added five boards, a category paced by seven from senior Dan Garvin (Bethel, Conn.) (4 points).

Blackmon's 24-point outing came off 9-of-13 shooting and perfect 2-for-2 and 4-for-4 marks from 3-point range and the free throw line, respectively. Keith Braxton added 22 more (7-9, 3-4 from 3), grabbing the only double-double of the game with 10 rebounds while dishing out seven assists. Jamaal King paced the contest with eight helpers and added another 14 points, while Georgios Angelou wrapped up double-digit scorers with 13 points, missing just a single shot from the floor (5-6). SFU's top four scorers went a combined 26-of-37 (.703) on the evening.

As a unit, Saint Francis shot an impressive 60.7 percent, including a .633 mark in the second half alone. Bryant connected on 31-of-80 for a 38.8 percent clip, going 8-for-31 from deep (.258) and just 8-for-13 from the line (.615). The Red Flash also won the margin on the glass, 41-37, and recorded six blocks.

The loss marks the third time this season the Bulldogs have allowed their opponents to hit triple digits and marked the largest margin of defeat against a league foe in the 2016-17 campaign.

It was a back-and-forth affair for the first 10 minutes of the contest before a 6-0 Red Flash spurt gave the hosts their largest lead to that point, 24-18. A triple from Kostur and second-chance elbow jumper from Ndugba re-established a one-point game with 7:45 to play.

The teams would continue to trade leads and stay within one possession of each other until the final five minutes of the stanza, when Wolford anchored an 11-0 run that featured a pair of triples and was helped along by two Bulldog turnovers. Bryant would have just seven giveaways on the night.

In total, the Red Flash would outscore the Bulldogs, 18-4, in the final five minutes of the frame, going 6-for-10 from the floor to Bryant's 2-for-9 mark. The run would send the visitors into the locker room looking to regroup in the face of a 48-32 halftime deficit.

Saint Francis outscored the Black and Gold, 24-6, in the paint in the opening 20 minutes, aided by an impressive five blocks from Josh Nebo (8 points, 14 rebounds).

The Red Flash would quickly extend the lead to 20 less than two minutes into the second half, and while Bryant would get three points from the line, the visitors wouldn't get one through the cylinder until four minutes into the frame (Zouzoua).

Bryant would not string together multiple baskets for the next six minutes, until two made freebies from Kostur followed Grant's second triple of the night. Pettway would close the deficit – one that rose to 25 points at the 10:24 mark – back to 18 points, 71-58, with a layup to complete a 7-0 Bryant spurt. The run saw the Bulldogs capitalize on two SFU giveaways (14 total).

Saint Francis would rattle off a 20-9 run from there, though, capping the stretch off with a three from Angelou to extend the host's lead to 29 for the first time in the contest, 91-62. Bryant could not cut into that margin by much in the final minutes, eventually falling to the higher-seeded Red Flash, 100-78.

The loss drops the Bulldogs to 1-4 all-time in the NEC Tournament and 12-20 on the 2016-17 season.