Bulldogs fall to Colonials
Robert Morris uses strong man-to-man defense to stifle struggling Bryant
SMITHFIELD — After trailing by as many as 21 points midway through the second half, somehow the Bryant men’s basketball team was dribbling the ball up the court with 2 minutes, 30 seconds left in Saturday afternoon’s Northeast Conference clash with visiting Robert Morris down by just nine points.
But, as was the case far too often throughout the contest, the Bulldogs proved to be their own worst enemy and the Colonials took advantage.
Junior guard Adam Grant turned the ball over near mid court and Robert Morris reserve Malik Petteway went the other way and delivered a thunderous dunk as part of a three-point play to deflate the Bulldogs. Bryant received 17 inefficient points from Grant, and the hosts committed 20 turnovers and 24 fouls in a 79-65 defeat at the Chace Athletic Center.
“I thought our kids played well in the second half,” Bryant coach Jared Grasso said. “We put ourselves in a hole. We have to learn how to take the next step as a program. Robert Morris has been to NCAA tournaments and Andy [Toole] has been successful for a reason. Those kids are tough and physical and we weren’t ready early to compete against that physicality.
“I thought our kids responded when it was a little too late. For us, again, we’re a work in progress and we have to keep getting better.”
Bryant (5-11, 2-3 Northeast Conference) now has to do something it hasn’t done in NEC play or it will start its four-game homestand with a pair of losses. The Bulldogs host St. Francis of Pennsylvania tomorrow afternoon at 5 p.m. Bryant is already 0-2 in conference play in the back end of a two-game-inthree-day stretch.
In their previous attempt, the Bulldogs were blown off the floor by Sacred Heart in Fairfield, Conn. last Saturday afternoon.
“It’s hard and it’s something we haven’t figured out yet because we’ve lost both games after we won both of our Thursday games,” Grasso said. “It’s something I’ll sit and talk to my staff about to see if we can tweak things a little bit. [Today] more of a mental day than a physical day. We’re playing in 46 hours, so we have to get our guys prepared knowing what Saint Francis does.”
Robert Morris (9-9, 4-1 NEC) sits atop the conference after bouncing back from a seven-point defeat to LIU-Brooklyn last Saturday. The Colonials shot an effi- cient 26-for-45 from the field and 7-for-15 from the 3-point line. The Colonials received a team-high 15 points from Josh Williams, while Petteway added 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
The Colonials won the game on the defensive end where their suffocating man-to-man defense exposed a Bryant squad that is without a veteran point guard because of the absence of junior Ikenna Ndugba (shoulder). Grant hit three 3-pointers in a 2:18 span to give Bryant its lone lead at 9-8, but that was simply fool’s gold.
Petteway scored six of the game’s next eight points to give Robert Morris a lead they would never relinquish. After making three of their first five shots, Bryant was just 7-for-22 from the field with 10 turnovers to close out the half. The Colonials held a 36-25 advantage at the break.
“The reality of it is we miss Ike every minute of every day, but I don’t like talking about it because I don’t like making excuses,” Grasso said. “That’s not how I’m wired and that’s not what I believe. Of course we miss him because he’s our assist leader and our best defender. He brings a lot intangibly, too, if we had him. We don’t right now.”
Freshman point guard Joe Kasperzyk, who has ably filled in for Ndugba, hit a pair of free throws and delivered an assist to cut the deficit to eight early in the second half. That’s when Robert Morris answered with an 11-0 run sparked by Bryant fouls and three baskets by Matty McConnell.
Bryant’s biggest problem defensively was handling McConnell in the pick and roll. Far too often the Colonial was either allowed to dribble to the hoop or find a cutting Yannis Mendy for a bucket.
“We tried to change coverages. I still have a couple guys who aren’t very good in our coverages,” Grasso said. “We probably work on it more than any place I’ve been in my career, we work on ball-screen defense. That stuff is inexcusable. We’ll go back to the video and take a look. Some guys have to see the mistakes we’re making. We have to get better.”
Bryant trailed by 19 points when freshman forward Pat Harding helped the Bulldogs whittle 10 points off the lead in less than six minutes with a bucket in the paint. Taylor McHugh, Juan Cardenas and Nino Hernandez also scored to cut the deficit to nine with 2:30 remaining. Hernandez, Cardenas and Tanner Johnson were the only Bryant players with a positive plus-minus.
As pleased as he was with his team’s toughness in the final eight minutes, Grasso knows his squad needs to be tougher earlier in the game when they face adversity liked they faced when they were called for four fouls and a technical foul on one possession during the 11-0 run.
“We get punched in the mouth a little bit with adversity and we don’t respond well,” Grasso said. “Part of that is not having a veteran point guard out there to keep the team under control.”