Bulldogs fall at New Hampshire, 75-59; Ndugba matches career-high with 22 points

DURHAM, N.H. – Sophomore Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.) matched his career-high with 22 points, but the Bryant University men's basketball team was held off on the road by New Hampshire, 75-59, Saturday at Lundholm Gymnasium.

GAME INFORMATION
New Hampshire 75, Bryant 59
Records: Bryant (1-7), New Hampshire (2-6)
Location: Lundholm Gymnasium (Durham, N.H.)
Attendance: 369

KEY MOMENTS

• Bryant trailed 12-2 early in the contest, but brought the deficit within five thanks to a 9-2 run that included five points from Ndugba.
• New Hampshire led by 11 early in the second half before Bryant trimmed the deficit to five on a three-point play by senior Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) with 13:52 to go.
• Bryant would pull within six with 5:29 to go, but New Hampshire was able to hold off Bryant down the stretch.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• New Hampshire opened the game on a 12-2 run that led to a Bryant timeout. Out of the timeout, the Bulldogs brought it to within seven, but the Wildcats pushed the lead back to 12 at 26-14 with 8:19 remaining in the half.
• A 9-2 Bryant run with five points from Ndugba brought the Bulldogs to within 28-23 with 4:52 to go in the half.
• New Hampshire would take a 37-29 lead into the locker room. Ndugba led all scorers in the first half with 12 points.
• The Wildcats extended the lead to 11 at 47-36 with 13:52 to go, but the Bulldogs scored the next five, trimming the deficit to five on Kostur's three-point play.
• New Hampshire would answer, using a 7-0 run to go up 14 at 59-45 with 9:40 to play. Bryant closed it to six with 5:29 to go on a jumper by sophomore Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) to make the score 61-55.
• The Wildcats were able to close out the contest from the free-throw line, as New Hampshire shot 14-for-16 from the line in the game.

STATS

• Ndugba scored 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. The sophomore added five assists.
• Grant recorded 11 points and four rebounds.
• Kostur tallied eight points, while senior Gus Riley (Nelson, New Zealand) chipped in eight points and six rebounds.
• Freshman Brandon Carroll (Brewster, N.Y.) tallied a career-high six points on his first two career made three-pointers.

GAME NOTES

• New Hampshire evened the Division I series at 3-3 with its victory Saturday
• Kostur moved into sole possession of ninth place in scoring in Bryant's Division I era with 681 career points, passing Marcel Pettway, who had 673 from 2015-17.
• Ndugba was in double figures in scoring for the sixth-straight game and 14^th time in his career. The sophomore guard is averaging 16.3 points per game during that six-game stretch.
• Grant was in double figures for the 28^th time in 40 career games. 
• Senior Aram Martin (San Antonio, Texas) made his first career start in Saturday's contest.

UP NEXT
Bryant is back in action Wednesday at 7 p.m. when the Bulldogs travel to Albany to begin the Houzz Gotham Classic Presented by TicketIQ. The game against the Great Danes can be seen on ESPN3.

Season and single-game tickets for the 2017-18 campaign are currently available by clicking HERE.

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