BRYANT FACES ADELPHI IN FIRST ROUND OF NCAA TOURNAMENT
Bulldogs Back Once Again In NCAA Tournament; Tipoff Saturday is at Noon

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BRYANT BACK IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
For the fourth time in school history, and for the second time in as many years, the Bryant men’s basketball team is headed back to the NCAA tournament. Bryant (20-8) will enter this weekend’s NCAA Northeast Regional as the No. 6 seed of the tournament and will take on third-seeded Adelphi (22-6) in the opening round on Saturday at noon. All regional tournament games will take place at Bentley College’s Dana Center in Waltham, Mass.  The Falcons are the No. 1 seed of the regional tournament.  

BRYANT IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Last year, Bryant returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 24 years and advanced as far as the NCAA Regional Final before falling to host and top-seeded UMass Lowell in the final seconds.  Bryant, seeded seventh, won for the first time in NCAA postseason play with a 65-63 upset win over second-seeded C.W. Post in the first round. The Bulldogs would defeat NYIT in the semifinals, 64-60 before falling to Lowell 63-62.

LOOKING AT ADELPHI
Adelphi, the regular-season champion of the NYCAC Conference, fell to eighth-seeded New Haven in the first round of the NYCAC Conference tournament.  The Panthers are led by sophomore guard Kimani Blaize who is scoring 12.1 points per game.  Blaize was named second-team all-conference with a team-best 67 three’s.   Senior forward James Samuels averages 11.6 ppg with 6-foot-6 center Eric Martin scoring 11.2 points a game and 5.9 rebounds per contest. The defensive-minded Panthers average just 64.0 points per game but are holding opponents to just 55 points per game and 37.6 percent shooting per contest.  Third-year head coach James Cosgrove was named the NYCAC Coach of the Year after leading the Panthers to their best season since the 2001-02 year when the school advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.  He was previously the head coach at Endicott in Beverly, Mass.  

BULLDOGS AGAINST THE NCAA FIELD
Bryant is 4-4 against teams in the NCAA Regional this season. The Bulldogs are 0-2 against Bentley, 1-1 with Saint Rose and Saint Anselm, and 1-0 vs. Southern N.H. and Bloomfield. Bryant has not faced Adelphi and Queens this season.   

ALL-CONFERENCE
Bryant's John Williams (Springfield, Mass.) and Mario Correia (Brockton, Mass.) were named to the 2004-05 Northeast-10 All-Conference Men's Basketball team, the league announced Thursday evening. Senior center Mike Williams (Ellington, Conn.) was named the Northeast-10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He is the first Bryant player honored with the award since the Northeast-10 began sponsoring the award in 1992-93. He finished the regular season among the conference leaders in rebounds, defensive rebounds, blocked shots, and field goal shooting. John Williams, second in the conference in scoring with 20.1 points per game, set a school record this season with 96 three-point field goals and is currently ranked in the top-10 in eight conference statistical categories including steals (fifth) and assist to turnover ratio (fourth). Williams is also ranked 11th nationally with 3.56 three-point field goals per game. Correia has enjoyed a very successful senior season for the Bulldogs. The swing guard is currently second on the team with 13.5 points per game and closed out the final seven games of the regular-season averaging 20.1 points per game.

WILLIAMS NAMED NE-10 PLAYER OF WEEK; SCORES 37 IN LOSS TO SAINT ANSELM
Junior guard John Williams (Springfield, Mass.) put on a show in the team’s 81-79 overtime loss to Saint Anselm in the NE-10 quarterfinals. The junior scored 37 points and had seven three’s in the game including one from 25 feet out before halftime and a baseline three with 2.2 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. With 96 three’s this season, Williams broke Romuald Augustin’s (2003-04) school single season record of 87 three’s set last season.

CORREIA EARNS WEEKLY HONOR
Senior guard Mario Correia (Brockton, Mass.) - pictured - was named the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week for Feb. 14, the first such honor for a Bryant basketball player this season. Correia had a career-high 28 points and eight rebounds in the team’s win over No. 24 Saint Anselm on Saturday.  He had 21 points plus eight rebounds in the team’s win at Le Moyne on Tuesday night.  For the week, Correia averaged 24.5 ppg on 20 of 40 shooting in two games, made 6 of 11 three-point attempts.  In Wednesday’s game at Saint Michael’s, Correia had 22 points, 6 assists, and 5 steals.

BACK TO BACK SUCCESS
In the past two seasons, Bryant has 43 total wins (23 in ‘03-04 and 20 this season).  It marks the most wins in back-to-back seasons in school history. Bryant posted three consecutive 20 win seasons in the early seventies.  The 1972-73 team went 20-6 and a year later went 20-8. The following season (1974-75) Bryant went 21-8.  
 
BULLDOG BITES
Saturday’s game vs. Adelphi will be the 117th game coached by Max Good at Bryant.  It will also be Good’s 364th as a head coach in 13 seasons ...  Bryant has averaged 17 wins a season under Good.