San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
FLA. ATLANTIC FALLS AT HOME
Consider the last week in the life of Bryant coach Phil Martelli Jr.
His team lost to Rutgers on Sunday, his former boss resigned Monday, he got promoted to head coach Wednesday, his team lost to a previously winless Boston University team Thursday and he boarded a flight to Boca Raton on Friday wondering if he was the problem.
Saturday was better. Much better — after he and the Bulldogs pulled off a stunner.
Sherif Gross-bullock scored 19 points, Earl Timberlake added 13 and Bryant stunned No. 10 Florida Atlantic 61-52 to end the Owls’ 19-game home winning streak.
“This is a great moment and certainly it ranks up there,” Martelli said. “But we’re building towards highlights in February, March and hopefully beyond.”
Daniel Rivera scored 12 and Rafael Pinzon added 10 for the Bulldogs (2-3), who were 0-10 against ranked opponents since becoming full members of Division I — losing those games by an average of 28.8 points, the most recent of those contests by 67 points against Houston in 2021.
Didn’t matter. They held the Owls to 26 percent shooting, 20 percent in the second
Florida Atlantic guard Bryan Greenlee (left) defends Bryant guard Sherif Gross-bullock on Saturday.
Bryant 61,
No. 10
FAU 52
half.
“Hats off to Bryant,” FAU coach Dusty May said. “They played determined, they played well, they made plays when they needed to make them. It’s a good basketball team that’s faced a lot of adversity and they came together as a group today.”
Johnell Davis scored 17 and Giancarlo Rosado finished with 11 for the Owls (2-1). The Final Four program from last season — which lost to San Diego State on Lamont Butler’s buzzer-beating basket — entered the game as 221⁄2-point favorites, according to Fanduel
Sportsbook, against a Bryant team whose only win this season came against NAIA member Fisher.
FAU ran out to a 10-2 lead, starting 4 for 6 from the field. They went 4 for their next 25. And that cold shooting never stopped — not on 3pointers, not on layups, not even on free throws.
“I can’t imagine us having another shooting performance like that ever again,” May said.
Martelli’s former boss, now-former Bryant coach Jared Grasso, resigned Monday. That led to the interim tag being taken off Martelli, who had been the associate head coach and running the team in Grasso’s absence.
No. 8 Creighton 82, Texas Southern 50: Baylor Scheierman scored 23 points, Trey Alexander had 15 of his 20 in the first half, and the Blue Jays (4-0) routed the visiting Tigers (0-4).
UC San Diego wins again
Hayden Gray scored six of his nine points as part of a 13-0 run in the second half that carried UC San Diego to a 73-55 victory over Navy at Liontree Arena.
Bryce Pope had 20 points and Aniwaniwa Tait-jones added 19 as the Tritons (4-0) remained unbeaten while keeping the Midshipmen (0-3) winless.
UCSD was leading 43-38 when Gray scored back-toback baskets in the paint. After Francis Nwaokorie (15 points) added four points and Pope made a 3-pointer, Gray capped the run with a short jumper to extend the Tritons’ advantage to 56-38 with 10:33 left. Navy never came closer than 13 points after that.
Women’s Top 25
No. 16 Notre Dame 79, Illinois 68: Playing without leading scorer Sonia Citron (knee), the Fighting Irish (3-1) won the Shamrock Classic in Washington behind 24 points apiece from Hannah Hidalgo and Maddy Westbeld. Hidalgo also had eight assists and six steals.