• Sat, 02/25 | Men's Basketball vs. Mount St. Mary's L, 71-62 (Final) BX | RC
  • Thu, 02/23 | Men's Basketball vs. Wagner L, 86-73 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 02/18 | Men's Basketball at Saint Francis (PA) L, 76-61 (Final) BX | RC
  • Thu, 02/16 | Men's Basketball at Robert Morris L, 69-40 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 02/11 | Men's Basketball vs. Sacred Heart L, 72-46 (Final) BX | RC
  • Wed, 02/08 | Men's Basketball at Sacred Heart L, 79-77 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 02/04 | Men's Basketball at St. Francis (NY) L, 80-67 (Final) BX | RC
  • Thu, 02/02 | Men's Basketball at LIU Brooklyn L, 75-70 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 01/28 | Men's Basketball vs. Monmouth L, 78-68 (Final) BX | RC
  • Thu, 01/26 | Men's Basketball vs. Fairleigh Dickinson L, 66-63 (Final) BX | RC
 
November 30, 2006

Bryant Men Visit UMass Lowell Saturday For A 4 p.m. Game

BRYANT BASKETBALL NOTES

November 30, 2006 

UPDATE
The Bryant men's basketball team visits UMass Lowell on Saturday, Dec. 2 for a Northeast-10 Conference game at Costello Gym. Tipoff is at 4 p.m. The game will be a rematch of last year's NCAA Division II regional championship when the River Hawks eliminated Bryant in the first round with a 77-67 win at Easton, Mass.  The Bulldogs are coming off an impressive 62-48 win over Assumption College on Wednesday night at home.  Bryant committed only two second half turnovers in the game and got 16 points from guard Chris Burns and 15 points and a career-high seven steals from guard Nate Sudlow in the victory. Both Burns and Sudlow made a combined 14 of 15 free throws in the game as Assumption shot just 31.4 percent and turned the ball over 25 times.  UMass Lowell (3-3, 1-2 NE-10) earned its first conference win of the season on Wednesday night, holding on for a 75-74 win at Stonehill College. 

NEXT UP FOR BRYANT
The Bulldogs will travel to Bentley College on Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. game in Waltham, Mass. Bentley is the preseason favorite to the win the NE-10 Conference this year.  The next home game for the Bulldogs will be Saturday, Dec. 9 against Southern N.H.

            Tue. Dec. 5 -   at Bentley, 7:30 p.m.

            Sat. Dec. 9 -    SOUTHERN N.H., 7:30 p.m.

            Wed. Dec. 13 - at Stonehill, 7:30 p.m.

  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. UMASS LOWELL

Bryant and UMass Lowell met three times last season, all during separate portions of the schedule. The Bulldogs won the only regular-season meeting, 82-66 at home at the Chace Athletic Center in early February and defeated the River Hawks, 63-61 in the quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 Conference tournament at Costello Gym.  The teams would meet for a third time in the first round of the NCAA playoffs with UMass Lowell exacting revenge for its conference tourney loss with a 77-67 win in a game played at Stonehill College.

 

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.

BURNS' NUMBERS

Senior guard Chris Burns of Merrimack, N.H. enters Wednesday's game with 939 career points, needing 61 to reach 1,000 for his career.  Burns is third in school history with 185 career three-point field goals.  He has played in 96 career games - starting in 36.

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 sound 62-48 win over Assumption at home on Nov. 29.

THE COACH

Head Coach Max Good enters his sixth season at the helm of the Bryant basketball team.  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 96-64 while at Bryant and 205-202 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               96       (2001-pre.,  96-64)

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.

BULLDOG NOTABLES ....

  • Dan Hammond (Brunswick, Maine) needs four 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 180 career steals, trailing Jerome Grier '96 record of 184.
  • Bryant has been out-rebounded in all five games this season
  • In Sunday's game at Franklin Pierce, a total of 50 three-point field goals attempted, 21 by Bryant and 29 by Franklin Pierce.
  • Bryant committed only 2 turnovers in the second half vs. Assumption
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