Men's Basketball Defeats NJIT 85-47 Saturday

December 18, 2004

Box Score vs. NJIT

Correia

NEWARK, N.J. - The Bryant University men’s basketball team scored the game’s first 13 points en route to an 85-47 non-conference victory over host New Jersey Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon at the Fleisher Athletic Center.

Bryant (3-3) made its first seven field-goal attempts, including four from three-point range, and took an 18-2 lead four minutes, one second, into the contest. NJIT (5-4) trailed, 38-23, at halftime, and never got closer than an 11-point deficit at any point after the opening four minutes. The Bulldogs final 38-point margin was their largest of the afternoon.

John Williams (Springfield, MA/Longmeadow) led the Bulldogs with 21 points and seven assists. Mike Williams (Ellington, CT/Ellington) recorded 14 points and 16 rebounds and shot 5 for 5 from the floor. Clayton Barker (Passaic, NJ/Passaic) led NJIT with 15 points.

Mike Williams was held scoreless in the first half but came out strong in the second half to finish with a season-best 16 rebounds to go with his 14 points. Williams now needs only 9 points to reach the 1,000 point mark for his career.

Bryant shot 54.7 percent from the floor for the game and held NJIT to 26.7 percent shooting. The Bulldogs made 10 of 20 three-point attempts, as compared to 6 of 32 for the Highlanders, who were held to a season-low in points.

All but one player who saw action Saturday made it into the scoring column, including walk-on Kiley Lynch of Narragansett, RI and Mike Rocco of Tewksbury, Mass. Rocco, a 6-foot-6 forward and member of the Bryant baseball team, joined the team this week. He finished going 1-for-2 from the floor and grabbing one rebound in three minutes of action.

The Bulldogs will travel to Holy Family on Monday night for a non-conference game at 7 p.m. Bryant and NJIT will meet again on December 29 in the opening game of the Comfort Suites Holiday Classic at the Chace Athletic Center.