SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Senior guard Dyami Starks (Duluth, Minn.) scored a season-high 31 points as the Bryant University men's basketball team clinched its third-straight postseason berth with a 74-71 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on the road Thursday night.

Bryant (12-12, 9-4 Northeast Conference) was one of three teams to clinch a spot in the eight-team NEC Tournament Thursday night, and the Bulldogs took over sole possession of second place with the victory.

Three Bulldogs finished with double-digit points, with senior guard Joe O'Shea (Burlington, Vt.) adding 12 and sophomore forward Dan Garvin (Bethel, Conn.) chipping in 10. A trio of Bulldogs – redshirt-freshman Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) and junior guards Shane McLaughlin (Old Tappan, N.J.) and Curtis Oakley (South Euclid, Ohio) – finished the night with seven points, while Kostur's seven boards were a game best. McLaughlin dished out six assists on the evening, while Starks's season-high output came off 9-of-14 shooting from the floor with a 5-of-10 clip from 3-point land. He also went 8-for-8 from the free throw line.

The Knights (7-17, 2-11) saw four double-digit point scorers, paced by 19 points from Darian Anderson. Matt MacDonald added 16 (3 steals) while Malachi Nix scored 12 (10-for-10 from the line) and Mustafaa Jones chipped in 11.

Behind 14 points from Starks, the Bulldogs took a 35-30 lead into the halftime break. Thursday's visitors would maintain that lead until midway through the second stanza, when a fastbreak dunk from Darius Stokes capped off a 10-3 FDU run that tied the game at 51-51.

Starks would answer with his fourth triple of the game to renew the Bulldog advantage, kickstarting a 12-2 Black and Gold spurt that would push Bryant's lead back to double digits, 63-53, with 5:09 left in the game.

A Garvin lay-in would cap off the run, and the layup would be the last game-action basket for the next 2:29, as FDU outscored Bryant, 8-4, from there, with all 12 points coming from the charity stripe.

A jumper by Nix with 2:40 on the clock closed the Knights' deficit to just four points, 67-63, and FDU would close that gap to three off an Anderson trifecta as the clock ticked below the 60-second mark.

Two missed McLaughlin free throws with 29 ticks to go would result two made freebies the other way from MacDonald with 12 seconds remaining to bring the home side within a single point, 72-71. But Anderson would foul Oakley with eight seconds to play, and the junior put both free throws down for the 74-71 edge that would go final seconds later despite a last-ditch effort from Jones.

The Bulldogs shot 54.5 percent from the field on the night, including an impressive 66.7 percent (12-18) in the second half. FDU converted at a 38.2 percent clip while Bryant edged its host on the glass, 29-28.

With five games to go, the Bulldogs will now vie for home court advantage in the upcoming NEC Tournament. Bryant continues that push Saturday at Mount St. Mary's (2 p.m.) in a rematch of last week's 55-53 victory at the Chace Athletic Center on ESPNU.  Saturday's contest can be seen live on NECFrontRow.com.