BRYANT MEN ADVANCE TO NCAA SWEET SIXTEEN ONCE AGAIN
Boxscore
WALTHAM, Mass. – Behind All-American John Williams' 28 points and five three-point field goals, the Bryant men's basketball team is headed back to the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen once again. The Bulldogs used strong shooting from the outside and solid interior defense to roll to a 76-59 win over Bloomfield College Sunday night to advance to the Regional Championship game Tuesday night. Bryant will face Bentley College at the Dana Center starting at 7 p.m. The Falcons defeated Southern N.H. in the other semifinal.
Similar to its first round game against Adelphi on Saturday, Bryant (22-8) raced out to a quick 8-0 lead on the Deacons and held a 16-9 advantage as Williams was just starting to heat up from the outside. The junior guard drained three-straight long-range three-pointers and dropped in a running floater to push the Bryant lead to 29-14.
Bloomfield (24-8) tried to keep up with the much-quicker Bulldogs, but a baseline three from Chris Burns and yet another NBA-range three from Williams made it 41-20 with a little over three minutes left in the half and Bryant was never threatened from that point on.
Burns and John Williams combined to make seven of Bryant's nine total three's in the game and while the Bulldogs continued to knock down big baskets from the outside, Mike Williams controlled things on the inside for Bryant. After pulling down 15 rebounds against Adelphi in the opener, the 6-foot-11 Williams grabbed 12 rebounds against Bloomfield to go with his 12 points and six blocked shots.
In two NCAA tournament games, Mike Williams has 13 blocks and 27 rebounds.
Bloomfield, led by Andre Dabney's 19 points, went scoreless over the first six minutes of the second half but managed to cut the lead down to fifteen, 67-52 but it was too late as Mike Williams took a nice pass from Mario Correia in the lane and slammed it home, sending Bryant back to the NCAA Regional Championship for the second time in as many years.
Correia had 15 points and four assists while Burns finished with eight in the game.
