Bulldogs travel to Mount St. Mary's to open second weekend of NEC schedule

EMMITSBURG, Md. – The Bryant University men's basketball team begins a stretch of five out of six games away from Smithfield with a Thursday night contest at Mount St. Mary's.

THE PARTICULARS
Opponent: Mount St. Mary's
Game Time: Thursday, Jan. 4 – 7 p.m.
Tickets: MountAthletics.com
Watch Live: NEC Front Row
Live Stats: MountAthletics.com
Game Notes: Bryant 

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
Mount St. Mary's is 0-2 in NEC play after dropping road games to Wagner and LIU Brooklyn last weekend. Junior Robinson averaged 15.5 points per game on the weekend. 

Robinson leads the NEC on the year with 21.4 points per game and is third with 5.1 assists per game. The Mountaineers are second in the NEC with 3.7 blocks per game as a team.

THE SERIES
The Mountaineers are 10-6 in the all-time series, as the teams have split the regular season series in each of the last five years. Bosko Kostur had 24 points in last year's meeting in Smithfield, a 72-71 Bryant victory. 

LAST TIME OUT: SAINT FRANCIS U 86, BRYANT 82
Sophomore Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) hit a three-pointer with 10.6 seconds to go to force overtime, but NEC preseason favorite Saint Francis U held off Bryant Sunday in Smithfield. Senior Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) had his first-career double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. 

The Bulldogs had 24 assists in the game, matching their Division I program record. Bryant also had season-highs in points (82) and rebounds (39).

BOSKO GETS BUCKETS, PART I
Senior Bosko Kostur has been efficient from both two and three in addition to at the line this season. Kostur is shooting 51.4 percent from the floor, 47.4 percent from beyond the arc and 85.0 percent from the free-throw line.

BOSKO GETS BUCKETS, PART II
Senior Bosko Kostur has made three appearances off the bench in his 14 games this season and put up two of his best performances of his senior campaign. Kostur scored a season-high 25 points against Navy (11/18) and posted a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds Sunday against Saint Francis U. 

In three games off the bench, Kostur is averaging 17.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while shooting 58.8 percent overall and from three.

WE LIKE IKE
Sophomore Ikenna Ndugba (Boston, Mass.) is averaging 13.7 points per game over his last 13 games with at least 10 points in 11 of 13. Ndugba has two double-doubles on the year: a 16-point, 10-rebound outing at Hartford (11/24) and a 17-point, 11-assist performance at Memphis (12/9). Ndugba tallied 12 assists Sunday against Saint Francis U - the most by a Bryant player since Shane McLaughlin's 12-assist night at LIU Brooklyn (2/27/16). 

Ndugba passed Alex Francis for fourth in Bryant's Division I era in assists in the game at Albany (12/6) and now has 208 in his career.

CARROLL-ING IN DECEMBER
Freshman Brandon Carroll (Brewster, N.Y.) was an integral part of the Bulldog lineup in the month of December. Carroll has scored 10 or more points four times - including a career-high 16 at Dartmouth (12/22) - and averaged 9.5 points per game during the month. 

SOPHOMORES TAKING THE NEXT STEP
Bryant's sophomore class - Adam Grant, Tanner Johnson (Lexington, Ky.), Ikenna Ndugba and Sabastian Townes (Chesapeake, Va.) - has accounted for 53.6 percent of the team's scoring in 2017-18. All four have elevated their points per game averages from a year ago, while Grant (14.0 ppg), Ndugba (12.3) and Townes (11.8) are the Bulldogs' top three scorers. 

KOSTUR NAMED TO 3X3U WATCH LIST
Senior Bosko Kostur was named to the Early Season Watch List for the inaugural Intersport 3X3U National Championship to be held in San Antonio during Final Four weekend. The tournament will feature a team of graduating seniors from each of the 32 Division I conferences in a three-day event March 30-April 1. 

NEXT UP: SACRED HEART
Bryant closes out the second weekend of NEC play in the Nutmeg State with a Saturday afternoon game at Sacred Heart. The 1 p.m. tip against the Pioneers can be seen on NEC Front Row and heard on WOON 1240 AM with Jon Wallach and Cam Boon.