Shorthanded Bulldogs reach NEC title game
Without Green III, Childs, Bryant blitzes Sacred Heart in second half
Bryant University men’s basketball Jared Grasso is an optimistic person, so when the No. 2 Bulldogs found out they’d be missing all-conference guard Michael Green III, 3-point ace Chris Childs and rotation player Nate Stokes for Saturday’s NEC semifinal against No. 3 Sacred Heart because of COVID quarantine, Grasso spun it as a positive for the remaining seven scholarship players.
“I told them before the game, ‘I recruited all of you, if I told you, you were going to play 40 minutes in a conference semifinal game, would you sign up for that,’” Grasso said. “Everyone said they would. You should be happy in this situation because you get to play, so obviously they stepped up. Really proud of their effort today.”
Of the seven players who played Saturday afternoon at the Chace Athletic Center against the Pioneers, five Bulldogs set new season highs in minutes, while starters Hall Elisias and Peter Kiss finished just a minute off their season highs. And yet, it was the Bulldogs who were the fresher team in the second half.
Bryant led by 11 points after the first 20 minutes and before the first media timeout of the second half. Led by Kiss, Luis Hurtado and Elisias, the Bulldogs scored the first nine points of the second half and never looked back. Kiss scored a game-high 19 points to go along with six assists and five rebounds, while Charles Pride added 16 points and 11 rebounds in an 85-55 rout of the Pioneers.
“It’s just been a very hectic week and I’m just happy with our guys and our program and our staff,” Pride said. “They helped us a lot get to this point and I’m just so proud of the guys and coaching staff getting us ready for this game. It’s tough to win a game with seven players and a bunch of us playing 40 minutes, but I’m proud of everyone.”
Bryant (15-5) is undefeated at the Chace Athletic Center and thanks to Mount St. Mary’s upset of No. 1 Wagner Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs will host the Mountaineers Tuesday at 7 p.m. for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
“This is what you work for, you want to play in big games in March,” said Grasso, who added that he doesn’t know if Green III, Childs and Stokes will be cleared to play Tuesday night. “We have the opportunity to do that and I’m excited, even more so for my guys.”
Sacred Heart (9-9) received a team-high 14 points and four assists from all-conference guard Tyler Thomas, but the Pioneers shot just 33.9 percent from the field, while the Bulldogs were a ridiculously efficient 63.6 from the field and they made seven of their 17 3-pointers. Bryant only took 17 shots from long range because Grasso said the Pioneers didn’t have a player who could alter the Bulldogs’ shots in the paint.
Elisias went 8-of-9 from the field, while Pawtucket native and Shea High grad Erickson Bans was 5-for-7 inside the 3-point line. After playing a combined 39 minutes in the previous 10 games dating back to a Jan. 7 win over Central Connecticut, Bans logged 39 minutes and scored 13 points, his career-high against Division I competition.
“[Bans] does not fear anything,” Grasso said. “He’s had some injuries [ankle] this year and I benched him a couple of times because his practice habits need to be better, so he’s learning and growing. He’s ready to play games and there’s teams he could play on if there weren’t so many guards and he’d average double figures and be the rookie of the year in this league. The kid can really play.”
Thanks to hoops from Cantavio Dutreil and Thomas, the Pioneers scored the game’s first five points and it looked like the shorthanded Bulldogs were up against it without their point guard and best 3-point shooter. Instead, Grasso and the Bulldogs used the personnel available to overpower the Pioneers.
The Bulldogs only made two 3-pointers in the first half, but they were 14-for-20 inside the 3-point line to open up an 11-point advantage at the break.
“They’re not shot-blocking team, they only average two blocked a game, so the key to the game was to try to attack the rim as many times as we can,” Elisias said. “We also wanted to get offensive rebounds and tip ins.”
Elisias and Hurtado scored in the paint to start the second half before Kiss buried a 3-pointer to stretch the lead out to 20 just 3:41 into the half. The Pioneers had no answer to deal with the Bulldogs’ length on the perimeter and Elisias’ presence in the paint.
Sacred Heart scored just two points in the first nine minutes of the half and by the time Thomas made a layup to stop a 21-2 run to start the half the game was already over and the Bulldogs were on their way to their first NEC Tournament final.
“Hall is the highest level athlete you can have and our guards are bigger,” Grasso said. “With this lineup that we played today along with Kai [Kostmayer] we got a little bit bigger and a little bit more athletic and that helped us at times because we’re playing bigger. Chris Childs and Michael Green are really good players, but they’re smaller guards. When you have Peter Kiss, Luis Hurtado, Charles Pride and Erickson Bans on the floor, you have three bigger guards and Erickson is probably our most athletic guard.”