Men's Basketball Visits Stonehill College Wednesday Night To Face Defending Regional Champion Skyhawks
December 12, 2006
Bryant Men Travel To Stonehill Wednesday Night For
Tough NE-10 Battle
Skyhawks Defending Co-Conference Champions and NCAA Regional
Champions
UPDATE
The Bryant men's basketball team wraps up its tough
four-game stretch against the Northeast-10 elite this Wednesday
evening when the Bulldogs visit defending conference co-champion
and NCAA regional champion Stonehill College for a 7:30 p.m. game
at Merkert Gymnasium. This will be the first of two meetings
between the two schools with the second set for January 13 which
will be broadcast live on CSTV at the Chace Athletic Center in
Smithfield, R.I. Bryant is coming off a 76-46 win over
Southern New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon. Jon
Ezeokoli had 14 points while Chris Burns
and Nathaniel Sudlow each added 12 points.
Ezeokoli leads the Bulldogs with 14 points per game this year while
Burns and Sudlow are next at 13.1 ppg and 10.5 ppg
respectively. Burns has made 25 of 51 three-point field goal
attempts on the season and enters the game with 972 career points
at Bryant. Sudlow is enjoying a strong start to his senior
season, leading the team with 9 blocks, 19 steals. Bryant has
won three of its last four games with the one loss coming at
Bentley, 61-49 last week in Waltham, Mass. Stonehill fell to
Bentley on Saturday afternoon, 80-72 despite 23 points from Nick
Smith.
NEXT UP FOR BRYANT
The Bulldogs will be off for 16 days before returning to
action hosting the Comfort Suites Holiday tournament .
Fri. - Dec. 29 - LE MOYNE, 5 pm
Sat. - Dec. 30 - BRIDGEPORT, 3 pm
NORTHEAST-10 PRESEASON POLL
The Bryant University men's basketball team has been selected to finish second in the Northeast-10 Conference in 2006-07 following a vote from the conference's head coaches. After claiming a share of the Northeast-10 regular season title last season, the Falcons of Bentley College are favored to finish first again this year as voted by the men's basketball coaches. Overall, the Falcons received 201 votes to put them on the top of the preseason coaches' poll. Bentley tied Bryant University with six first place votes in the poll. However, the Falcons edged the Bulldogs, who finished second in the ranking with 183 total points. The College of Saint Rose followed in third place with 182 points and claimed two first place votes, while Southern New Hampshire University (169) and Pace University (158) rounded out the top five respectively.
LAST YEAR VS. STONEHILL
The Skyhawks swept the season series from the
Bulldogs last year and ended Bryant's run in the conference
tournament with a 67-56 win the NE-10 semifinals at Merkert
Gymnasium March 2. Stonehill won the first meeting, 63-51 in
Easton, Mass. on Dec. 10, 2005 as Chris Burns was the only player
in double figures for Bryant with 17 on 6 of 16 shooting.
Bryant shot a dismal 30 percent (18 for 60) including 26.5 percent
in the first half. In the second meeting in Smithfield,
RI, Bryant struggled again from the field, shooting just 33.3
percent, including another rough start out of the game, making just
8 of 32 shots from the floor (25 percent) in the first half and
trailed 40-28 at the break. The Skyhawks, ranked No. 24 at
the time, shot 54.3 percent from the field in the game. In the
rubber match in the NE-10 semis, Bryant again had trouble shooting
from the floor, going 20 for 55 from the field in the game (36.4
percent) with the Skyhawks at 51.0 percent. Nick Smith had 12
points on 4 of 6 shooting. The Bulldogs missed 7 free throws
and made just 10 of 30 three-point field goal attempts.
WINNING WAYS
Bryant has posted three-straight 20-win seasons in
five seasons under Max Good. The Bulldogs have
qualified for three-straight NCAA tournaments, going 23-10 in
2003-04 while following with a 25-9 campaign in 2004-05, reaching
the NCAA Division II Championship game in March of '05. Last
year, Bryant went 21-10 overall.
100th GAME FOR BURNS WEDNESDAY
Senior guard Chris Burns of
Merrimack, N.H. enters Wednesday's game with 972 career points,
needing 28 to reach 1,000 for his career. Burns is third in
school history with 194 career three-point field goals. He
has played in 99 career games - starting in 39.
QUICK LOOK AT THE BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs enter the season picked to finish second overall in the preseason Northeast-10 Conference coaches poll - the highest a Bryant team has been selected in the preseason poll. The Bulldogs opened the year with exhibition games at Syracuse (86-92 L) and UConn (45-70) and followed with an 85-63 loss at Philadelphia to open the season. The team rallied back to win two at home, defeating AIC in a non-conference affair and Saint Anselm. After falling to Franklin Pierce (for the second-straight season in Rindge, NH), the Bulldogs bounced back with a solid 62-48 win over Assumption at home on Nov. 29 and followed that with 69-66 win at UMass Lowell on Jon Ezeokoli's three-pointer with two seconds remaining. The streak would come to an end Dec. 5 with a 61-49 loss at seventh-ranked and preseason conference favorite Bentley.
THE COACH
Head Coach Max Good enters his sixth
season at the helm of the Bryant basketball team and is closing in
on win No. 100 at Bryant University. During his five seasons,
Good has led the Bulldogs to three-straight 20-win seasons and
three consecutive trips to the NCAA trip - highlighted by a trip to
the national championship game in March of 2005 where the Bulldogs
fell to Virginia Union by five. Good has a record of
98-65 while at Bryant and 207-203
during 15 seasons as a head coach, having previously coached at
UNLV and Eastern Kentucky.
Bryant's Coaching Victories
1. Tom Foliard 174 (1968-78, 174-88)
2. Leon Drury 126 (1978-89, 126-182)
3. Ed Reilly 109 (1989-01, 109-209)
4. Max Good 98 (2001-pre., 97-65)
THE COACHING STAFF
Deshon Gaither and Dwayne
Pina return for their second seasons at Bryant University
in 2006-07. Gaither came to Bryant from Charlotte, North
Carolina where he was an assistant with the A.B.A.'s Charlotte
Thunder as well as an advance scout for the N.B.A.'s Charlotte
Bobcats. Pina, a 2001 graduate of Boston College, was a
walk-on in 1997 and earned himself a scholarship with the Eagles,
playing 78 total games for B.C. In 1998-98, Pina
started all 27 games for B.C. and ranked seventh in the BIG EAST
with 4.5 assists per game.
MEET THE FRESHMEN
The Bulldogs have three recruited freshmen on the roster
this season plus two additional walk-ons. Cecil
Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) is a 6-foot-5 forward who is
coming off a strong prep season at Maine Central Institute ...
Forward Dana Mauro (Wethersfield, Conn.) is a
6-foot-4 forward who was named first team all-state by the Hartford
Courant in 2005 and second team in 2006 ... Guard Ray
Witkos (Easthampton, Mass.) scored 1,578 career points at
Holyoke Catholic H.S. and was a co-recipient of the John "Honey"
Lohovich award as Western Mass. Division II Player of the Year; the
same award given to former Bryant standout John Williams ...
Freshman Chris Casey (Westborough, Mass.) is a
walk-on who was an all-state soccer player at Westborough HS ...
Anthony Thomas (Boston, Mass.) joined the Bulldogs
at Franklin Pierce after playing wide receiver for the Bryant
football team this fall.
EVEN STEVEN
So far things have been pretty even in terms of free
throws. Bryant has made 88 free throws this year while
opponents have also made 88. Oppoents have attempted just 4
more freebies than the Bulldogs (139 to 134).
10 AVERAGING 10
Head coach Max Good is not afraid to go deep into the
bench. A total of 10 players are averaging at least 10
minutes a game this season.
BULLDOGS ON THE AIR
Bulldog basketball fans will be able to follow live
audio action of Bryant men's and women's games for
FREE throughout the season courtesy of Stretch
Internet this season. A complete schedule of games is listed on http://www.bryantbulldogs.com/ Fans can
also watch all conference games at a cost of $6.99 per game at http://www.ne10.tv/.
NOTABLES ....
- Dan Hammond (Brunswick, Maine) needs TWO steals to break the school record for career steals. Hammond, the holder of Bryant's single game (9 vs. Merrimack) and season (72 in '04-05) steals record, has 183 career steals, trailing Jerome Grier '96 record of 184.
- Bryant has been out-rebounded in seven of eight games this season. In Saturday's game vs. Southern NH, Bryant out-rebounded the Penmen 50-29. The only other game Bryant out-rebounded an opponent this year was at Syracuse. Not against Le Moyne, mind you, but against Syracuse University in a six-point exhibition loss at the Carrier Dome on Nov. 1.
- Bryant committed only 2 turnovers in the second half vs. Assumption
- Bryant made a season-high 12 three-pointers vs. Southern NH Saturday. The Bulldogs made a combined 11 three's in the previous two games (vs. Bentley and Lowell).
- The 50 rebounds against Southern NH were also a season high.
