Eleeda scores 26 as Bryant downs Mount on Saturday, 73-66
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Adham Eleeda hit a career-high eight threes and finished with a career-high 26 points to lead the Bryant University men's basketball team to a 73-66 victory over Mount St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon at the Chace Athletic Center.
Eleeda made 8-of-13 from beyond the arc as the Black and Gold exacted a bit of revenge against a Mountaineers team that defeated them in the same gym in last year's Northeast Conference Championship. Bryant is now 7-8 on the year and 4-1 in the NEC.
Peter Kiss added 18 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals, while Charles Pride posted 13 points and three assists. Greg Calixte collected six points, seven boards and three blocks and Luis Hurtado Jr. chipped in six points, four rebounds and four assists.
Game Information
Bryant 73, Mount St. Mary's 66
Records: Bryant 7-8, 4-1 NEC | Mount St. Mary's 5-10, 1-4 NEC
Location: Chace Athletic Center (Smithfield, R.I.)
Attendance: 240
Key Moments
- Leading by four with 2:00 left, Eleeda and Pride hit threes a minute apart to keep the Mountaineers at bay.
How it Happened
- Eleeda got Bryant off to a fast start, hittng a pair of threes in the opening 2:30 to make it 6-0.
- Hurtado Jr. would get in on the fun moments later, hitting just his third triple of the year to make it a 9-5 game.
- Mount, however, would grab its first lead of the afternoon (17-16) on a Josh Reaves three with 11:15 to go.
- Greg Calixte followed with a reverse layup underneath to give the Bulldogs the lead back and Kiss pushed it 20-17 with a two-handed slam.
- The run extended as Pride hit a three from long distance. With the shot clocking running down, Pride settled a lifted from 30 feet, hitting nothing but the bottom of the net.
- Bryant's lead rested at three until Eleeda got hot at the end of the half. He drilled a transition three from 30 feet to make it 34-28 and then beat the first-half buzzer with a trifecta from the left wing to make it 37-28 at the break.
- The Black and Gold finished the first half 7-of-15 from beyond the arc.
- Eleeda and Kiss tried to pull the Bulldogs away in the middle of the second half. Eleeda hit a three to make it a 10-point game and Kiss followed with four-straight points. Eleeda then hit back-to-back threes to make it 56-43 with 10:56 to play.
- Mount answered with a three of its own, however, and would make it a three-point game late. Jalen Benjamin hit a three and Josh Reaves was fouled taking a three and canned all three free throws to make it 62-59 with 3:16 remaining.
- Leading 64-60 with 1:55 remaining, Hurtado found Eleeda on the inbounds and Eleeda drilled a three from the left wing.
- Two possessions later, Hurtado rifled a pass to Pride in front of the Bryant bench and Sour canned it to make it 70-64 with 51 seconds remaining. Pride and Hurtado would then make 3-of-4 free throws to close out the game.
Stats
- Bryant finished 26-of-56 (46.4 percent) from the field, 12-of-24 (50.0 percent) from three and 9-of-11 (81.8 percent) from the line.
- Mount earned a 34-31 advantage on the glass.
- The Bulldogs turned 16 Mount turnovers into 24 points and finished with 34 points in the paint.
- Eleeda scored 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He was 8-of-13 from three. Eleeda also had two steals.
- Kiss scored 18 points and had five assists, four rebounds and three steals in an all-around effort.
- Pride finished with 13 points, hitting 3-of-4 from three. He had three assists, two rebounds and two steals.
- Calixte had six points, a team-high seven rebounds and three blocks.
- Hurtado scored six points and had four rebounds and four assists.
Game Notes
- Bryant is now 10-16 against Mount St. Mary's at the Division I level. The Bulldogs snapped a three-game losing streak at the hands of the Mountaineers.
- Bryant improved to 4-1 at home this year and is 14-2 at home the last two seasons.
- Eleeda set a career-high in points (26) and made three pointers (8) on Saturday.
- The eight threes are tied for the second-most in a single game in DI program history. They are tied with Charles Pride, who hit eight against the Mountaineers in the NEC Championship.
- Eleeda is now averaging 3.1 3s/game.
- Kiss posted his 31st double-figure scoring game in 34 outings as a Bulldog.
- Kiss leads the NEC with 20.4 points per game.
- Hall Elisias now has 416 career rebounds.
- Pride now has 39 career double-digit scoring efforts.
- Pride pushed his career marks to 761 points and 410 rebounds. He inches closer to Hunter Ware (771) for 13th place in DI program history for points.
Up Next
Bryant closes the two-game NEC weekend with an MLK Day matchup with Saint Francis U. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Chace Athletic Center.