February 26, 2007

BRYANT MEN'S BASKETBALL HOSTS AIC TONIGHT AT 7 PM

The Bryant men's basketball team begins postseason play Monday night as the Bulldogs host American International College for a Northeast-10 Conference tournament quarterfinal round game.  Tipoff is at 7 p.m. at the Chace Athletic Center. The winner of the game will face the winner of the game between No. 1 Bentley and No. 9 Saint Anselm on Thursday. If Saint Anselm were to upset Bentley, Bryant would host that game as the highest seed has home court advantage throughout the tournament. 

THIRD MEETING WITH YELLOW JACKETS
This will be the third meeting of the season between Bryant and AIC with the last meeting just over two weeks ago, Feb. 10 won by AIC, 58-47 in Springfield, Mass.  Bryant won the first meeting, 72-68 at home as Chris Burns had 18 points and Nick Pontes and Ryan McLean came off the bench to add 10 points in the game.  In the last meeting between the two squads,  Bryant shot a dismal 26.3 percent and were out-rebounded by AIC, 47 to 31 in the game.  Bryant made just 6 of 29 three's and had only eight field goals in the second half.

SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS:
AIC (16-12), the No. 5 seed of the tournament earned the right to visit Bryant with a 68-60 first round win over No. 12 Merrimack Saturday afternoon.  Five of the seven AIC players to enter the game reached double figures with Magen McNeil scoring 18 points and grabbing 13 boards.  AIC shot 51.8 percent from the floor in the game.

STORY LINES  

* Chris Burns is ranked 17th nationally last week with 3.4 three-point field goals per game average. The senior has a career-best 96 three's this season which is THIRD-best in school history.  The school record is 119 held by John Williams in 2004-05.  

*  Bryant is 11-1 at home this year. BRYANT IN THE NE-10 TOURNAMENT

Bryant had qualified for five-straight Northeast-10 Conference tournaments. The Bulldogs are 5-4 in the conference tournament since 2002-03 including a run to the NE-10 semifinals last year.  Bryant is 2-0 vs. AIC in the NE-10 tourney including a 61-54 win last year in the first round. 

2002-03                   vs. Franklin Pierce  (First Round)        70-74 L

2003-04                   vs. AIC (First Round)                           76-64 W

                                at Le Moyne (Quarters)                         72-65 W

                                at UMass Lowell (Semis)                      47-68 L

2004-05                   Franklin Pierce (First Round)               60-57 W

                                at Saint Anselm (Quarters)                   79-81 L OT

2005-06                   AIC (First Round)                                                61-54 W

                                at UMass Lowell (Quarters)                  63-61 W

                                at Stonehill (Semis)                               56-67 L

BULLDOGS REMAIN AT  NO. 4 IN REGIONAL POLL

After holding onto the No. 2 spot in the first two regional polls, the Bryant men's basketball team dropped to No. 4  in the NCAA Northeast Region.  Eight teams are selected for the NCAA Regional Tournament with the three regional conference champions earning an automatic bid.