Bryant rolls past Wagner in regular-season finale

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Senior Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) scored a game-high 29 points and the Bryant University men's basketball team posted 20 assists as it closed the regular season with an 80-59 victory over Wagner Saturday afternoon at the Spiro Sports Center. 

With the win, the Bulldogs have now quintupled their win total from two seasons ago, finishing the regular season with 15 victories. Bryant will serve as the No. 7 seed in the Northeast Conference Tournament, traveling to Loretto, Pennsylvania, to face No. 2 seed Saint Francis U in Wednesday's quarterfinal round. 

Grant produced one of his most efficient games of the year, finishing 8-of-15 from the field and 7-of-10 from the beyond the arc to finish with 29 points. Both his 29 points and seven made threes are tied for his season high. Senior Juan Cardenas (Apartadó, Colombia) and redshirt-junior Hall Elisias (Valley Stream, N.Y.) each finished with 14 points. Elisias also set the Bryant single-season record for dunks with 34 on the year, while Grant's seven made threes broke the Division I single-season program record with 99.

GAME INFORMATION
Bryant 80, Wagner 59
Records: Bryant (15-16, 7-11 NEC), Wagner (8-21, 5-13 NEC)
Location: Spiro Sports Center (Staten Island, N.Y.)

KEY MOMENTS 

• Grant hit a pair of threes to open an 18-12 lead for the Black and Gold with 12:31 to play in the opening half. 
• Bryant held Wagner to 4-of-18 shooting over the final 12:02 of the first half. 
• Grant scored Bryant's first eight points of the second half, opening a 15-point lead (46-31) with 14:30 to play. 

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Bryant held an 18-14 lead at the under-12 media timeout in the first half. 
• The Bulldogs then limited the Seahawks to just 4-of-18 shooting the rest of the way in the opening stanza. 
• Elisias and junior Mikail Simmons (Murphy, Texas) sparked the Bulldogs, combining for 11 straight points to help the Black & Gold build an 11-point lead with 6:48 left in the first half.
• Sophomore Patrick Harding (Fairfield, Conn.) pushed the lead to 14 at the break with a putback layup with 10 seconds remaining. 
• Grant then opened the second half by scoring Bryant's first eight points, with his three at the 14:30 mark pushing Bryant ahead by 15. 
• Four straight points from Cardenas and a four-point play from Grant followed to put Bryant up 53-36.
• Cardenas pushed Bryant's lead to as large as 22 with a three at the 2:38 mark.
• Redshirt-sophomore Dren Dedushaj (Brooklyn, N.Y.) put an exclamation point on the afternoon with a hook shot with 22 seconds remaining for his second career basket.

STATS

• Grant tied his season-high with 29 points and also tied his season-high with seven made threes. 
• Cardenas was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, 2-for-2 from deep and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. He added nine rebounds and four assists.
• Elisias added 14 points and finished with three blocks. 
• Simmons chipped in five points, six rebounds and three assists.
• Pride scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Bryant, which outrebounded Wagner 45-24.
• Bryant shot 49 percent from the field (25-51), 44 percent from three (11-25) and posted 20 assists.

GAME NOTES

• Bryant improves to 9-11 all-time against Wagner and is 4-0 under head coach Jared Grasso.
• With seven three-pointers, Grant now has 303 in his career, becoming just the second player in all-time program history to make 300 or more in a career.
• Elisias extended his Division I single-season blocks record to 76.
• Elisias broke Bryant's D1 single-season record for dunks with his 32nd, 33rd and 34th of the year. 
• The Bulldogs' 20 assists were their most against a Division I opponent this season. Bryant assisted on 33 of 45 field goals in a 116-67 win over Northern Vermont-Lyndon in November.

UP NEXT 
Bryant will travel to Loretto, Pennsylvania, to take on Saint Francis U in the quarterfinals of the NEC Tournament. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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