February 17, 2010

BULLDOGS ENTER FINAL ROAD STRETCH IN SEARCH OF WIN OVER WAGNER THURSDAY NIGHT (7 P.M.) 

Game Notes / Live Stats

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team enters its final road stretch of the 2009-10 campaign Thursday night as the Bulldogs look for their first victory of the season against Wagner College at Spiro Sports Center (7 p.m.).

THE PARTICULARS
The Bulldogs take to the highways for the last road stretch of the 2009-10 season and will kick off the weekend trip with a 7 p.m. bout against Wagner College Thursday night (Feb. 18). This will be the first and only meeting of the year between the Bulldogs and the Seahawks, who sit just above Bryant in the Northeast Conference standings with an overall record of 4-23. Bryant is still in search of its first win of the season with just four games remaining, half of them inside the friendly confines of the Chace Athletic Center.

SCOUTING THE SEAHAWKS
The Seahawks look to break a four-game losing skid Thursday night and are led by double-figure point scorers Chris Martin (11.8 ppg) and Michael Orock (10.9 ppg). Orock's 6.6 rebounds per outing pace Wagner on the glass, while Martin has posted a team-beast 33 steals on the year. At 8.1 points per game, Tyler Murray is third on the team in scoring average but is first in assists, having dished out 70 so far this season. The Seahawks also boast a pair of 25+ shot blockers in Doug Elwell (28) and Orock (25). As a team, Wagner connects on 39.7 percent of shots from the field and converts at a 33.8 percent clip from long range. Wagner averages just 60.6 points per game as a team and allows opponents an average of 70.3 points per contest. Nine of the Seahawks' 13 players on the roster have earned a start this season with Orock starting in all but one contest. Wagner is just 1-8 at home.

LAST TIME OUT
Bryant freshman Vlad Kondratyev (Nikolayev, Ukraine) scored 15 points and freshman guard Raphael Jordan (Bel Air, Md.) came off the bench to add 11 as the Bryant University men's basketball team let a second-half lead slip away, falling to league-leading Robert Morris, 52-42, Saturday afternoon in Northeast Conference action at the Chace Athletic Center.

Bryant held Robert Morris to 34.8 percent shooting in the game as the Colonials equaled their lowest offensive output of the season, but the first-place Colonials took advantage of ice-cold shooting by the Bulldogs in the final 10 minutes to earn the come-from-behind victory.

Tied at the half, 25-25, Kondratyev got the second frame started on the right foot for the Bulldogs, scoring on a layup while drawing a foul from RMU's Rob Robinson. Fellow freshman Claybrin McMath (Adelaide, Australia) kept the scoring going with a basket of his own on a nice inside move to put the Bulldogs up by five quickly, 30-25.

As the minutes ticked off, a Jordan 3-point bucket and a pretty McMath follow up off a missed 3-point attempt by Kondratyev kept the Bulldogs out ahead with a 39-35 lead with 10:12 remaining.

Robert Morris would storm right back as Karon Abraham hit two free throws to tie the score at 39-39 and Dallas Green added a tip-in basket to give the Colonials their first lead of the second session, 41-39, with 4:37 left on the clock.

But following McMath's putback, the Bulldogs would manage just one field goal, a trey by Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y.), in the final 10 minutes as Robert Morris closed out the game on a 17-3 run for the 10-point victory.

Kondratyev had a big game for the Bulldogs, scoring on several power moves in the paint and adding a beautiful turnaround floater from just beyond the free throw line early in the second half to give Bryant a four-point advantage. He would finish the game with a game-high 15 points while shooting 6-for-11 from the floor and grabbing three rebounds. Jordan was 2-for-3 from 3-point land and dished out four assists while adding a trio of steals.

Robinson had 12 points to lead the Colonials, who were 19-for-29 from the free throw line for the game.

THE SERIES
Bryant fell to the Seahawks, 72-60, in the teams' only previous meeting, coming on February 12, 2009 at the Chace Athletic Center in Smithfield, R.I. In that game, Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) poured in 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting and tied a game high with seven rebounds in 39 minutes of action while senior captain Adam Parzych (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) added 17 more, going 5-for-10 from the field including a 4-of-6 mark from long range. Gresham and senior captain Chris Birrell (Scituate, R.I.) each posted a pair of blocks while the team shot 38.9 percent from the floor in the loss. Wagner's Chris Martin and Joey Mundweiler paced the Seahawks with 18 and 20 points, respectively, while Justin Drummond dished out 10 assists on the day.

UP NEXT
Bryant rounds out 2009-10 road action Saturday night when the Bulldogs head to the NEC's southern-most institution, Mount St. Mary's, for a 7 p.m. road finale against the Mountaineers.