December 9, 2006 

BRYANT MEN DEFEAT SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE, 76-46 SATURDAY

Box score

Cecil Greshman scored 10 points on 4 of eight shooting in Saturday's 76-46 win over Southern New Hampshire at the Chace Athletic Center.

SMITHFIELD, RI -  Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange, NJ) scored 14 points while Nathaniel Sudlow (Brooklyn, NY) (5 assists) and Chris Burns (Merrimack, NH) each had 12 to lead the Bryant University men's basketball team to a 76-46 win over visiting Southern New Hampshire Saturday afternoon at the Chace Athletic Center.

Bryant (5-3, 4-2 NE-10), looking to bounce back from Tuesday's loss at seventh-ranked Bentley, used a strong perimeter game and physical play on the boards to pull out the home victory.  The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Penmen 50 to 29 in the game and made 12 of 28 three-point field goal attempts.

Leading 37-26 at the half, Bryant used an 8-3 spurt to stretch the lead to 45-29 in the early minutes.   An Ezeokoli basket and foul moments later helped push the Bryant lead to 48-31.  Ezeokoli, a junior guard, was 4 for 8 from the floor including 3 of 6 from three-point range and went a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line.  

Later, with Bryant holding a 50-35 advantage, Burns drained back-to-back threes from the top of the key and Jerrann Wright (Cincinnati, OH) scored on an offensive put-back with eight minutes left making it 58-36 and the Bulldogs never looked back.

Southern N.H. (1-6, 1-6 NE-10) was led by Chris Brickley's (Manchester, NH) team-high 13 points while Modestas Riauka (Kaunas, Lithuania) came off the bench to add 11.  Sam Carey (Manchester, NH) came into the game averaging 11.8 ppg but was held to just seven points on 2 of 7 shooting from the floor. The Penmen made 14 of 54 shots from the floor (25.9 percent) including only 4 of 26 from three-point range.

Bryant freshman Cecil Greshman (Bloomfield, Conn.) had 10 points off the bench and grabbed four rebounds while Dan Hammond (Brunswick, Maine) had five points in the win, but it was his hustle that didn't go unnoticed. Hammond finished with five rebounds to go with two assists, two blocks, and two steals.  The senior forward is two steals shy of setting the all-time school record for career steals held by Jerome Grier '96 with 184. 

Bryant will return to action this Wednesday when the Bulldogs travel to Stonehill for a 7:30 p.m. Northeast-10 Conference game.  Stonehill has won five-straight in the series with the Bulldogs, sweeping all three meetings with Bryant last year.