Bryant survives, snaps losing streak
SMITHFIELD — When the month of February began, the Bryant men’s basketball team was in good position to not only reach the NEC Tournament, but potentially host a first-round game early next month.
After five straight defeats, four of which came on the road, the Bulldogs entered their final two home games knowing a pair of victories would help avoid a second straight season without appearing in the conference tournament.
For the first half of Thursday’s clash with second-place Wagner, the Bulldogs looked like the team that won three of four games at the end of January, jumping out to a 15-point advantage at halftime thanks to solid defense and the 3-point shooting of junior wing Adam Grant.
In the second half, the Bulldogs played like they have for much of February, as it took the Seahawks just 8 minutes, 32 seconds to erase the deficit. The Bulldogs regained momentum late and built a five-point lead with 30 seconds to go, but two turnovers allowed the Seahawks a chance to tie the game, but Chase Freeman’s late shot and two more Wagner shots failed to go in, and Bulldogs escaped with a 6765 victory.
“Every game has been a battle. I thought we persevered and found a way to win,” Bryant coach Jared Grasso said. “We’ve been in four games like that this year and easily could’ve won them. Teams were shooting 80 percent from 3 against us in the last eight minutes of our last five games. Those numbers are going to come back eventually. It’s a gutsy win and we’re learning how to win big games. Every game right now for us is big.”
Bryant (9-17, 6-9 NEC) jumped one game ahead of Central Connecticut for the final spot in the NEC Tournament after the Blue Devils were upset by last-place Mount St. Mary’s Thursday night. Mount St. Mary’s will continue north to face the Bulldogs tomorrow afternoon at 4 at the Chace Athletic Center.
Thursday, Grant made five 3-pointers to score a team-high 17 points, but the big reason the Bulldogs survived was wing Juan Cardenas, who delivered 13 points and seven rebounds.
“He’s a good player,” Grasso said of Cardenas, who made six of his seven free throws. “There’s an adjustment for junior-college kids and he didn’t play last year, so I knew his best basketball was in front of him. We’re starting to see that; his confidence shooting the ball and stepping up and making free throws. He’s really made us a better team.”
Wagner (13-13, 8-7 NEC) had a chance to solidify second place in the conference headed into the final three games, but now the Seahawks will have to work hard to finish in the top four. Elijah Davis was an impressive 7-of-12 from the field for a team-high 16 points to go along with five assists. Romone Saunders added 15 points, four rebounds and two steals.
The Seahawks led 59-57 with 3:01 remaining on a Devin Liggeons basket, but Cardenas and Grant combined to score six straight points to give Bryant a lead it would never relinquish. The Bulldogs built a five-point lead on a pair of Joe Kasperzyk free throws with 30 seconds left.
Bryant then forced a turnover and appeared on its way to a victory, but a turn- over, a Nigel Clarkson 3-pointer and a five-second call gave the ball to the road side with a chance to steal the game. Three Seahawks missed shots in the final seven seconds to secure the victory.
“That wasn’t a lot of fun those last 30 seconds because we’ve been in situations before where we haven’t closed games,” Grasso said. “We had timeouts and our guys knew that. Twice we should’ve called timeouts, once when Bash [Townes] had the ball and threw it away and the five-second call. We have strides and improvements we need to make with those things late in the game, but these guys weren’t in games like this last year. This is us taking steps forward and we found a way to win a tough, gritty game.”
After allowing the Seahawks to make five of their first six shots to take a two-point advantage, the Bulldogs held Wagner without a hoop for 7:44 to grab a 19-10 advantage. Grant connected on four 3-pointers in the opening half to lead the Bulldogs to a 15-point halftime lead.
Wagner responded by scoring the first 12 points of the second half, as Elijah Davis went on a 7-0 run by himself to make the score 38-35. Neither team led by more than five points over the final 16 minutes of the contest.