Basketball Teams Visit Stonehill Saturday Afternoon; Listen To Broadcast Live

BRYANT UNIVERSITY MEN’S BASKETBALL
Bulldogs Visit Stonehill College Saturday
Game Notes (pdf)

Game:             Bryant (5-2, 2-2 NE-10) at Stonehill College (5-1, 3-1 NE-10)
Date:               Saturday, Dec. 10, 2005
Time:              3:30 p.m.
Location:        Merkert Gym (2,200), Easton, MA
Next:              Bulldogs host Comfort Suites Holiday Classic, Dec. 28-29

Bryant Probables
Pos – No.      Name                               Yr.    Ht.   Hometown                           ppg    rpg      note 
G -       5          John Williams               Sr.       6-0       Springfield, MA           19.6       2.4     21 pts vs. So. Conn last time out
G -       33        Chris Burns                   Jr.        6-0       Merrimack, NH             13.3       3.6     team high 14 steals
C -       23        Nick Pontes                   Fr.       6-6       New Bedford, MA         7.4       5.0     12 rebs vs. Pace Nov. 30
F -       21        Jon Ezeokoli                  So.      6-3       South Orange, NJ         11.9       5.9     Career high 22 pts vs. Pace Nov. 30
F -       22        Dan Hammond              Jr.        6-5       Brunswick, ME               5.6       6.6     leads team with 25 assists

BULLDOGS TRAVEL TO STONEHILL SATURDAY AFTERNOON: 
The Bryant men’s basketball team continues its road trip this Saturday when the Bulldogs visit Stonehill College for a Northeast-10 Conference game.  Tipoff is at 3:30 p.m. at Merkert Gymnasium.  The Bulldogs, winners of two-straight, are coming off a 69-58 win over Southern Connecticut last Saturday in New Haven.  John Williams scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half  … Stonehill brings a three-game win streak into Saturday’s game, earning wins over Saint Michael’s (92-70), Saint Anselm (65-61) and Le Moyne (78-64) last Saturday … Marquis Taylor leads the Skyhawks with 16.8 ppg and 8.3 rpg … The senior was named the NE-10 Player of the Week with a pair of double-doubles last week, scoring 23 points against St. Anselm and 22 against Le Moyne …  Stonehill swept last year’s two meetings, winning 71-65 in Smithfield and 79-58 at Merkert Gym … Bryant coach Max Good is 4-2 all-time vs. Stonehill.

BULLDOG NOTABLES ….

• Bryant set a school record with 25 wins last year, becoming the first Northeast-10 Conference team to reach the NCAA Championship game (Bryant fell to Virginia Union, 63-58).
• The Bulldogs are 2-2 on the road this season, 2-0 at home and 1-0 on neutral courts
• John Williams was held without a three-pointer vs. Pace Wednesday, just the seventh time in his career he has been held without a three in a game.
• Bryant’s 11-point win last Saturday against Southern Connecticut was the team’s largest margin of victory this season.  The two losses this year were by two points to AIC (67-65) and Saint Rose (64-62). 
• Bryant is shooting 41.3 percent from beyond the arc (69 for 167).
• John Williams has 229 career three-pointers and needs 67 to break the school record of 295 held by Jason Bennett.

HEAD COACH MAX GOOD

Now in his fifth year, Bryant University coach Max Good currently owns a 77-54 record at Bryant and 186-192 overall covering 14 seasons.  During his tenure at Bryant, Good has led the Bulldogs to three conference tournaments and back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances.  The 2003-04 squad reached the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen before falling to UMass Lowell in the regional final at the buzzer.  Last season, Good’s Bulldogs put that memory to rest thanks to a 74-64 win over Bentley in the NCAA Regional Championship, Bryant’s first-ever regional title. The win earned Bryant a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight in Grand Forks, North Dakota where the Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA finals with wins over Mount Olive and Tarleton State.  A native of Maine, Good arrived at Bryant in 2001 after serving as the interim head coach at UNLV during the 2000-01 season.  Prior to that, Good was the head coach at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Maine where he coached current NBA players Caron Butler, Brad Miller, Marcus Banks, Erick Barkley, Cuttino Mobley, Etdrick Bohannon and several others. In September of 2004, Good was inducted in the New England Basketball Hall of Fame with a record of 275-30 at MCI.  Good was also the head coach at Eastern Kentucky from 1981 to 1989.

LAST TIME OUT: 
Bryant senior guard John Williams scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in the second half as the Bulldogs picked up a 69-58 win at Southern Connecticut in New Haven last Saturday.  Chris Burns had 13 points including three 3-point field goals while Williams added four treys on the afternoon … The Bulldogs shot 39.2 percent from the floor in the game and made 19 of 27 free throws.  Southern Connecticut shot just 33.3 percent and turned the ball over 20 times in the game.