Bryant earns first win of Grasso era
Bulldogs bury St. Peter’s under 3-point barrage
SMITHFIELD – Hunter Ware, a four-year guard for Bryant University who graduated earlier this year, spent a good portion of Wednesday night watching his alma mater take on Saint Peter’s at the Chace Athletic Center.
Ware’s viewing perch wasn’t from one of the spiffy new chairbacks, nor was it from the freshly installed bleachers that have helped breath fresh life into the Chace Athletic Center. Presently a grad student who’s working in the equipment room, Ware stood outside in the hallway and looked in through the glass opening.
Ware had to like what he saw. The same could also be said for Jared Grasso, who figures to not forget the first significant coaching milestone of his Bryant tenure any time soon.
With junior Sabastian Townes inflicting damage all over the court and classmate Adam Grant also displaying a deft scoring touch, Bryant won for the first time this season, a 71-63 victory over Saint Peter’s. Townes and Grant each scored 18 points, both doing so in a reserve capacity after Grasso sought to send a message following a lessthan-stellar effort during Tuesday’s practice.
“We didn’t step up to the plate and I’m not going to say we didn’t suffer the consequences, but we believe in our other guys and they gave us a push,” said Grant. “Coach told us to be ready and that’s what we did. We got a great team win.”
Even though Grasso’s mind was firmly made up about not starting Grant and Townes, he still consulted his former boss at Iona, Tim Cluess, with roughly half an hour to go before Wednesday’s tip. Going with the second-string unit to start the home opener is one of those 50/50 propositions that ultimately paid dividends for Bryant (1-2).
“I told (Cluess) we could either win by 40 or lose by 40. I had no idea what was going to happen, but our guys responded,” said Grasso, who met the media after his suit took a postgame water bath courtesy of a happy bunch of Bulldogs. “(Grant and Townes) understand that I’m going to hold everyone to a certain standard … the way they should approach practice every single day. They’re starting to learn how high my standards are for them and I told them that they’re better than what they realize.”
Townies established a career highs in rebounds (10) and made three-pointers (two). He also stayed on the court for 29 minutes, which speaks to an offseason conditioning program that saw the burly forward drop 30 pounds. In 34 minutes, Grant was part playmaker (five assists, zero turnovers) and part long-range marksman (4-of-9 from three).
While Grant and Townes – the Bryant faction from the 757 area code – carried the Bulldogs to the finish line, it was redshirt sophomore Brandon Carroll who helped the home team survive a first half that saw Saint Peter’s led, 32-31 at halftime. After not playing at all in blowout losses to URI and Seattle, Carroll started and scored 10 of his 14 points in the opening half. The forward also made three of Bryant’s 13 three-pointers.
“Sometimes the basketball gods put you in a position that Brandon found himself in today,” said Grasso. “He’ll probably earn minutes moving forward, but if the second team didn’t win during Tuesday’s practice, he may not have played again.”
Bryon Hawkins scored 11 points and was part of Bryant bench brigade that outscored Saint Peter’s, 51-10. Samuel Idowu led all scorers with 25 points, though Grasso was pleased with holding Idowu’s Saint Peter’s teammate Davauhnte Turner to just 10 points. Turner came into the game averaging 24 points.
After two lop-sided losses that saw Bryant shoot a combined 33.6 percent from the floor and 18.3 percent from three, it was nice to finally see the ball nestle through the netting on a fairly regular basis. Against Saint Peters, Bryant shot 52 percent in the second half to finish the game at a respectful 43.9 percent.
The Bulldogs pushed the lead to double digits after Hawkins swished a three with 5:02 remaining. Saint Peter’s never truly threatened the rest of the way and at one point trailed by 11 points before a late score cut the deficit to single digits.
“It hasn’t been an enjoyable week in our office and the court. I challenged our guys and they responded, but now we get back to work,” said Grasso, already eying Bryant’s next contest that’s on the docket for this coming Sunday at Navy.