BRYANT MEN DEFEAT LE MOYNE 70-68 FRIDAY NIGHT

Comfort Suites Holiday Classic; Bulldogs Face Bridgeport Saturday at 3 pm

SMITHFIELD, RI -  Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange, NJ) scored 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting, including 3 of 6 from behind the arc to pace Bryant to a narrow victory over Northeast-10 Conference foe Le Moyne College Friday in first day action of the Bryant Comfort Suite Holiday Tournament at the Chace Athletic Center.

Sophomore big man Nick Pontes (New Bedford, MA) came off the bench for the Bulldogs to chip in with 13 points and five rebounds. The win pushes Bryant's record to 6-4 and 5-3 in Northeast-10 play while Le Moyne falls to 4-6 and 3-5 in league action with the loss.

Playing for the first time in 16 days, the Bulldogs showed little rust from the layoff, shooting 51.5 percent from the floor and holding Le Moyne to just 38.7 percent shooting.  But the Bulldogs led by just one at the half, 38-37 as Jason Holmes (Mamaroneck, NY) drained four 3-pointers en route to 16 first half points. 

The Bulldogs would continue to ride its hot shooting to start the second half as Ezeokoli and Andrew Lyell (Portsmouth, RI) would each connect on long-range three's to stake Bryant to a 50-42 lead with 13 minutes left.

Hammond would pick up his fourth personal foul with a little over 10 minutes left and was forced to go to the bench.  But a basket and foul from Nate Sudlow (Brooklyn, NY) gave Bryant's its largest lead of the game, 57-47.

Le Moyne would not go away, as the Dolphins chipped away at the lead and pulling to within six following a breakaway dunk by Matt Cooper (Fulton, NY) after a Bryant turnover at midcourt.

A Joshua three helped Le Moyne close to within 68-64 and after a Chris Burns (Merrimack, NH) miss on the other end, Holmes drove the lane and was fouled.  Fortunately for Bryant, Holmes missed both free throws, but the Bulldogs could not convert as Hammond's three-point attempt rimmed out. 

On Le Moyne's ensuing possession, Nick Pontes (New Bedford, MA) picked up his fifth personal foul and Cooper made Bryant pay, hitting both free throws to make it a two-point game with 46 seconds left.

Two Sudlow free throws helped give the Bulldogs some breathing room, stretching the lead back up to four, 70-66 with 16.2 seconds left.  The points snapped a five minute scoreless streak for the Bulldogs. After a Le Moyne lay-up brought them within two at 70-68 with just over six seconds to play, the Dolphins were unable to foul Bryant's inbound play, and time expired giving Bryant the home victory.

Holmes finished with 20 points in the game while Cooper had 11 for the Dolphins. 

NOTES ... Senior forward Dan Hammond (Brunswick, Maine) became Bryant's all-time career steals leader, recording the 185 of his career in the first half Friday night ...