BULLDOGS' STREAK SNAPPED BY YALE BUZZERBEATER, 64-62, WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT HOME

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Despite a late charge by the Bryant University men's basketball team to tie the game from down nine, Yale's Justin Sears would score a tip-in second-chance shot at the buzzer to spoil Bryant's winning streak, 64-62, Wednesday night at the Chace Athletic Center.

With the score tied at 62-62, sophomore guard Joe O'Shea (Burlington, Vt.) pulled in his team-high sixth rebound of the game with 12 seconds to play and drew a foul with 7.5 ticks remaining. But staring down a one-and-one at the line, O'Shea couldn't sink the front end, giving way to a rebound for Sears and a last-second chance for visiting Yale (3-6). Michael Grace put up a shot with two seconds to go that would bounce around the rim and come off just in time for Sears's game winner, vaulting the visitors to the buzzerbeater victory.

Sophomore guard Dyami Starks (Duluth, Minn.) finished the game with a contest-high 22 points for Bryant (4-3), which saw its four-game winning streak snapped in the defeat. Junior forward Alex Francis (Harlem, N.Y.) added 19 for the hosts on an 8-of-12 night as the Bulldogs shot 52.1 percent from the field as a unit. Starks's game high came off a 5-of-9 performance from beyond the arc, as Bryant shot 42.9 percent from 3-point land as a team.

Sears paced Yale with 20 points off 10-of-16 shooting and pulled down a game-best nine rebounds, while Jeremiah Kreisberg chipped in 14 points on a 6-of-8 mark. The Connecticut Bulldogs shot 45.9 percent from the floor but went just 2-of-13 from long range.

After a back-and-forth game early, Bryant leapt out to a 14-8 lead with just over 12 minutes to play in the opening half. The lead would not last long, however, as the scored the next eight points to take over, 16-14, with 10:22 to go in the half.

Starks grabbed the edge for the Black and Gold once again, 19-18, with a three-point play at the 8:46 mark, and the home team would up that lead to seven off a long three from Starks, 27-20, with 6:30 to go before intermission. The sophomore sharpshooter repeated the shot with 4:40 to play for a 30-24 advantage, but Yale pulled Bryant right back in, scoring six of the next eight points to cut the deficit to two points, 32-30, with under 60 seconds remaining in the half.

The lead would seesaw back and forth four times with five ties throughout the frame, as Bryant headed to the locker room with the two-point edge.

But out of the break, Yale would quickly take the lead once more, 36-34, at the 18-minute mark. The scoreboard would stay tight, with neither side leading by more than three points, until back-to-back Bryant turnovers allowed Yale to up its lead to five, 47-42, with 14:44 on the clock.

The visitors took their biggest lead of the game to that point, 50-43, with 14:01 to go, and while Bryant would close the deficit to a single possession multiple times over the next several minutes, the home side could never quite close the gap as the Connecticut Bulldogs extended their advantage to 60-51 with 6:45 to play.

With 4:57 left in the contest, Bryant cut Yale's lead back down to five, 62-57, and forced a late shot clock miss from Morgan to get numbers going the other way. The two-man advantage left Starks wide open on the right side for a 3-pointer that was all net, bringing Yale's lead to just a single basket, 62-60, with 4:05 on the clock.

A hard-fought layup from senior captain Frankie Dobbs (Berea, Ohio) knotted the game for the ninth time, 62-62, with 2:01 left in the game, but Bryant would miss all three free throw attempts down the stretch to keep the score in a deadlock, despite keeping Yale off the board for a 5:12 stretch up until the final second.

Bryant shot 50 percent or better in each half despite the loss but went just 6-for-10 from the charity stripe. The host Bulldogs outrebounded their visitors, 33-28, but gave the ball away 15 times to give Yale 16 points off turnovers.

The Black and Gold have just days to shake off the tough loss, as Bryant hosts Binghamton University in the final game of a three-contest home stint Saturday afternoon at the Chace Athletic Center (1 p.m.).