Bulldogs top St. Francis
Hawkins, Townes deliver in second-half comeback
SMITHFIELD — Bryant men’s basketball coach Jared Grasso might have discovered the perfect way to handle the rigors of the Northeast Conference’s schedule where teams play two games in three days every weekend.
And it came completely by accident. With just 46 hours to prepare for Saint Francis after being blown out by Robert Morris Saturday, the Bulldogs dealt with a fire alarm that ended Sunday’s practice early. And then, because the school’s IDEA program was going to keep his freshmen from participating in Monday’s morning team activities, Grasso moved the walkthrough to right before the game.
After the Red Flash led by as many as eight points late in the first half, Byron Hawkins, SaBastian Townes and the Bulldogs produced one of their best halves of the season to snap a two-game losing streak.
Hawkins scored all of his team-high 16 points in the second half, while Townes made crucial plays down the stretch and provided 14 points and five rebounds in a 76-67 victory over Saint Francis at the Chace Athletic Center.
“We did our walkthrough and shootaround right before the game,” Grasso said. “I just thought about doing it this morning because I didn’t think that we were prepared. A fire alarm went off [Sunday] so we weren’t able to finish our practice. Basically everything I didn’t plan on or would never have done happened today. It’s funny how things tend to work themselves out.”
Bryant (6-11, 3-3 Northeast Conference) bucked a couple of statistical trends to snap a two-game losing streak. The Bulldogs came into the game shooting just 29 percent from the 3-point line, while allowing opponents to make 41.7 percent of their long-range attempts. Monday, the Bulldogs were an impressive 10-for-22 from 3-point range, while the Red Flash were 7-for-24.
After missing both of his shots, including a 3-pointer in the first half, Hawkins went 4-for-5 from 3-point range in the second half. Townes and Adam Grant (15 points) also hit a pair of 3-pointers.
“My teammates have confidence in me to shoot the ball, my coaches tell me to shoot the ball when I’m open,” Hawkins said after also delivering three assists. “I just got open shots and took advantage of them. Once you see that first shot go in, you just starting playing. You take off from there.”
Saint Francis (7-10, 3-3 NEC) received a game-high 26 pints and four 3-pointers from all-NEC guard from Isaiah Blackmon. Blackmon also made all six of his free throws, while the rest of the Red Flash were a disappointing 4-for-11 from the line. Bryant, meanwhile, bucked another statistical trend by making 16 of his 20 free throws.
After Bryant took a 24-23 advantage early with 5:56 left in the first half following a 3-pointer from freshman Joe Kasperzyk, the Red Flash answered with a 13-2 run to take an eight-point lead late in the half. Blackmon scored seven points during the run.
Bryant, however, scored the final four points of the half, which proved to be crucial going into the final 20 minutes.
“We had a lot of confidence. Going into halftime, [Grasso] came in right away and was like ‘We’re right there, we just got a lot of bad turnovers,’” Townes said. “We were playing our game, but we were speeding ourselves up because Saint Francis definitely likes to play up-and-down basketball. We had to slow down and control the tempo.”
Counting the four points to end the half, the Bulldogs went on a 22-7 run to build a 4639 advantage after wing Juan Cardenas drove for a layup. Saint Francis, however, responded with an 11-2 run to take a two-point lead midway through the second half.
Saint Francis tried to mix up its defenses after regaining the lead and paid for it when the Red Flash abandoned their effective manto-man defense in favor of a 2-3 zone. Grant and Hawkins delivered 3-pointers 1:04 apart to give Bryant a lead they would never relinquish.
“We did get a lot of shots up on Sunday,” Grasso said. “We dummied our offense and shot for about 45 minutes. Guys who didn’t play did a lot of three-on-three work. Eventually, we’re going to make shots. I have guys who are better shooters than they’ve been. When you’re in your gym, you’re going to have one of those nights. In the second half we got it going and were seven of nine from 3. That was bound to happen.”
St. Francis went back to man-to-man defense, which slowed down the Bulldogs, who continue to play without injured point guard Ikenna Ndugba. That’s when Townes stepped up and put the game away. With Bryant nursing a five-point lead, the junior delivered a perfect high-low pass to Kasperzyk for a hoop.
On the next possession, Townes took a pass from Kasperzyk and canned a too\p-ofthe-key 3-pointer to essentially put the Red Flash away with the Bulldogs up 10 with just 2:47 left in the game.
“Those were two big possessions,” Townes said. “The play that [Grasso] drew up, I knew I was going to have someone cut to the basket and get open. I tell my guards to make sure they’re making a scoring cut because I’m going to get it there. I had a pass to Nino [Hernandez] early and then one to Joe. That was a big possession.”
The Bulldogs continue a four-game homestand Thursday night when Central Connecticut (8-11, 2-4 NEC) comes to Chace for a 7 o’clock contest.