February 26, 2008
BRYANT MEN FALL TO MERRIMACK ON THE ROAD, 79-60, TUESDAY
NIGHT
Boxscore
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - Despite double-digit scoring from three
different Bulldogs, the Bryant University men's basketball team
fell to Merrimack College to round out regular-season play, 79-60,
Tuesday night at the Volpe Center. The Bulldogs will be the
seventh seed of the upcoming NE-10 tournament and will host #10
seed Southern New Hampshire this Saturday at 2 pm at the Chace
Athletic Center. The winner will advance to face second-seeded
Saint Rose Monday night at 7 pm.
In Tuesday night's game, Merrimack (17-10, 12-10 Northeast-10
Conference) charged out to double up Bryant (16-11, 12-10) quickly,
10-5. But 16 early points from Jerrann Wright (Cincinnati,
Ohio) and Chris Birrell (Scituate, RI) -
11 of them from Wright - kept the Bulldogs within striking
distance, 25-16, with 8:02 to play in the opening frame.
Four minutes later, Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield,
Conn.) and Birrell drained back-to-back three-pointers to
cut Merrimack's lead to 27-24, and the Bulldogs would add two more
with a second-chance bucket from Barry Latham (Tauton,
Mass.).
But two-straight treys from Merrimack's Darren Duncan - two of
three in the half - gave the home team back its lead before Bryant
clawed back to take just a three-point deficit into the half,
38-35.
Merrimack continued to push the tempo in the second frame,
jumping out to a 54-43 lead with 14:33 left on the clock.
A three-pointer from Peter Lambert (Cumberland,
RI) brought the score to 57-49 at the 11:23 mark, but that
would be Bryant's last score for 4:41, enough time for the Warriors
to run away with the game.
In that time, Merrimack's Darin Mency scored 11 points on his
own while the rest of his team chipped in five more, putting the
Warriors up, 73-48, before the Bulldogs scored again.
The Bulldogs would score 12 more points to close out the second
half, but it wouldn't be enough to avoid the loss, 79-60.
Wright led the Bulldogs on the night with 15 points, while
Birrell chipped in 11. Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange,
NJ) paced Bryant on the boards with eight rebounds.
Merrimack was led by Mency's game-high 22 points and nine rebounds,
while two other Warriors scored in double digits.
The Warriors outrebounded the Bulldogs, 44-32, while shooting at
a 46.7 percent clip for the game. The Bulldogs shot 39.3
percent.
