January 23, 2010

KONDRATYEV'S CAREER-HIGH 20 POINTS NOT ENOUGH TO GET BRYANT FIRST WIN, FALL TO PIONEERS, 84-60

Boxscore

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Freshman leading scorer Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) poured in a career-high 20 points to lead the Bryant men's basketball team against Sacred Heart on the road Saturday afternoon, but it wouldn't be enough to get the Bulldogs their first win of the season as they fell to the Pioneers, 84-60, at the Pitt Center.

Bryant (0-20, 0-8 Northeast Conference) was outscored by just eight points, 39-31, in the second frame but couldn't overcome a 16-point halftime deficit, as the home side never trailed in the contest.

Kondratyev's 20 points came off a career-best eight baskets as the rookie went 8-for-11 for the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line in 22 minutes of action. He also knotted his career mark for rebounds with a team-high five. Senior captain Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) was the only other Bulldog to register double-figure scoring, tying his season high with 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting. All four of his buckets came from beyond the arc, where he went 4-for-5 on the day, and the guard added four more points from the charity stripe.

As a team, Bryant was strong from the line on the day, converting a season-high 15-of-18 attempts while allowing the Pioneers (12-7, 5-3) just 16 chances (nine points).

Just 1:15 into the contest, the Bulldogs would knot the score at 5-5, marking the only tie of the game. From there, Sacred Heart would score 11-straight points as part of a 15-4 run that left Bryant with a 20-9 deficit with 11:40 left to play in the first.

The Bulldogs would close the gap to eight with a 3-pointer from Parzych 16 seconds later, but the Pioneers regained a double-digit lead at the 9:03 mark and would keep it for the remainder of the game.

Parzych proved deadly from long distance for the Black and Gold throughout the contest, converting on all three of his first-half attempts from 3-point land to lead the team with 11 points at the break. A pair of Pioneers were in the double figures after the opening 20, led by 15 points from senior Corey Hassan, who went 5-for-9 from the field including 2-for-5 from downtown.

Sacred Heart suffered just a single turnover in the first half to the Bulldogs' seven, resulting in 14 points off Bulldog miscues for the home side. The Pioneers also doubled Bryant up on the glass, outrebounding the visiting Bulldogs, 16-8.

Out of the break, Sacred Heart started the second frame shooting 75 percent through the first 9:41 and opened up a 67-37 advantage, thanks in part to 11 points from Hassan. But the Bulldogs weren't running up the white flag just yet, answering with seven-straight points of their own to close the gap to 67-44 in favor of the home side, a run that included a powerful dunk from Kondratyev off a great feed from Parzych with 9:57 to play. Kondratyev would draw the foul on the play and convert the and-one free throw.

With 4:22 to play, senior captain Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I.) was fouled on a breakaway three, making all three free throws to move the score to 79-55, but the game was too far out of reach. Still, Bryant held the Pioneers to just two baskets in the final 6:05 of the contest.

Bryant kept its foul count down, matching the Pioneers' 18 on the day, but ran its second-half infractions up early on in the frame, committing five fouls in the span of 49 seconds. Kondratyev recorded two of the Bulldogs' three blocks in the game, the most impressive of which came with 16:44 left on the clock when he appeared out of nowhere to reject a Hassan close-range jumper.

The Bulldogs shot 46.5 percent on the day after shooting at a 52.6 percent clip in the first frame. Sacred Heart would hit at a rate of 57.1 percent on the afternoon and was led by 26 points from Hassan and 21 from Ryan Litke. Each team committed nine turnovers in the final 20 minutes, while the Pioneers outrebounded the Bulldogs, 32-20.

The Bulldogs now return to the Chace Athletic Center for their longest homestand of the season, starting with a rematch against Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 7:30 p.m. Bryant will host a trio of Northeast Conference contests before returning to road action.