GAME NOTES
SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The Bryant University men's basketball team travels to Emmitsburg, Md., for a rematch against Mount St. Mary's Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
THE SERIES
Mount St. Mary's has won nine of 13 all-time meetings between these two programs, but it was Bryant who won the season's first matchup, 55-53, on Feb. 5 at the Chace Athletic Center. Still, all four Bulldog wins have come on home court, and the Black and Gold are 0-6 all-time at Knott Arena, including an 0-5 mark in the Division I era.
SCOUTING THE MOUNT
A trio of Mountaineers are averaging double digits in Northeast Conference play, paced by Gregory Graves at 11.8 points per game. Graves (10.0) and junior Butler transfer Andrew Smeathers (10.4, eight games) are the only two in double figures on the season, with Byron Ashe right behind at 9.9 each time out. Graves paces the side on the glass with 7.3 rebounds per contest. Only Junior Robinson (8.3 ppg) and Kristijan Krajina (6.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg) have started all 24 tilts for the Mount, and the former is the side's top distributor at 3.3 assists per game. Graves has a team-leading 27 steals on the year while Taylor Danaher is the top shot blocker with 27 stuffs. As a team, the Mount allows opponents to shoot 44.6 percent from the floor on the year, though that number drops to below 40 percent in NEC action (.395). Mount St. Mary's is currently tied for fifth in the league standings.
BRYANT vs. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bulldogs are 9-4 in Northeast Conference play in 2014-15 and sport a 40-60 record (.400) against current NEC members since joining the Division I ranks. All-time against current conference institutions, the Bulldog basketball program is 54-77 (.412). Entering Saturday's action, Bryant sits alone in second place in the NEC standings and is one of four teams to have clinched a place in the upcoming NEC Tournament.
BULLDOGS CLINCH NEC TOURNAMENT BERTH
For the third-straight season, Bryant is moving on to the postseason, clinching one of eight spots in the 2015 NEC Tournament with a 74-71 win at FDU Thursday night. With five regular-season games left to play, the Bulldogs will now be jockeying for position and home-court advantage, with the league's top four teams hosting quarterfinal matchups.
STARKS KEY IN VICTORY AT FDU
Senior guard Dyami Starks posted his best outing of the year Thursday night, scoring a season-high 31 points on an impressive 9-for-14 clip from the floor, including a 5-of-10 mark from downtown. The captain also continued to be stellar from the line, going 8-for-8 and moving up to 11th in the nation in free throw percentage on the 2014-15 campaign (.896).
SHOOTING PROFILE
The Bulldogs shot better than 50 percent for the first time this month Thursday against the Knights, converting 54.5 percent (24-44) from the floor, including going an impressive 12-of-18 (.667) in the second half alone. The performance marked the fifth time Bryant has hit at least half of its shots since the start of 2015, and the Bulldogs are 6-1 on the season as a whole when hitting the 50 percent mark. The team's only loss when shooting better than .500 came Feb. 2 against Pitt, when the Bulldogs shot 51 percent from the floor but fell, 72-67. Conversely, Bryant's 73-60 win over FDU Jan. 10 marked the only time this season the Bulldogs have shot less than 40 percent from the field (.392) and come away with the victory. Bryant is now 1-9 when shooting below .400 but is 11-3 when converting at least 40 percent of its shots.
IRONMEN
Bryant saw just eight players take the court over the course of last week's three-game stretch, with five Bulldogs averaging more than 35 minutes per game. Junior Shane McLaughlin led the way, averaging 41.3 minutes per outing in three starts. Senior guard Dyami Starks also averaged more than 40 minutes per outing (40.7), while sophomore forward Dan Garvin (37.0), redshirt-freshman guard Bosko Kostur (36.7) and senior guard Joe O'Shea (36.0) all averaged 36 minutes or more of floor time on the week. Only six Bulldogs appeared in all three contests.
Over the last seven games, McLaughlin has missed just eight minutes of court time, appearing in 40+ minutes five times, while Starks has played all but 10 minutes in that span.
THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER
If it seems like redshirt-freshman forward Bosko Kostur has come out of nowhere to become a key cog in the Bulldog lineup, you aren't far off. After playing just a combined 55 minutes over the first 18 games of the season (10 appearances) and averaging only 2.1 points and 0.9 rebounds per game, Kostur has earned a starting spot in the last five contests and is averaging 12.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 33 minutes per game through the team's last six outings. The springy 6-foot-7 wing has also shot an efficient 50 percent (26-52) from the floor and 44.4 percent (17-25) from 3-point range over that span.
Last week, he tied for game scoring honors with 17 points in a 55-53 home win over Mount St. Mary's, then adding 15 in an overtime setback at Sacred Heart. Kostur's breakout game came Jan. 29 at Saint Francis U., when the Melbourne, Australia resident exploded for new career highs in points (18), rebounds (7), assists (3), field goals (7), field goals attempted (12) and minutes (32) while tying his career mark at the free throw line (3-4). He has since reset his personal bests in minutes (42 at Sacred Heart) and at the line (5-for-5 vs. Mount St. Mary's).
BULLDOGS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Senior guard Dyami Starks enters Saturday's matchup ranked 13th in the national statistics for threes per game (3.17, 1st in NEC). The Duluth, Minn., native also ranks 11th in free throw percentage (.896, 1st in NEC), eighth in minutes per game (37:37, 1st in NEC), 45th in points per game (18.0, 2nd in NEC) and 76th in 3-point percentage (.345, 2nd in NEC). Sophomore forward Dan Garvin ranks 79th in rebounds per game (7.8, 3rd in NEC) and 51st in offensive boards per game (3.08, 2nd in NEC), while junior guard Shane McLaughlin is 46th in minutes per outing (35:47, 3rd in NEC) and 82nd in assists per game (4.4, 3rd in NEC). As a team, the Bulldogs rank 38th in free throw percentage (.733, 1st in NEC), 55th in turnovers per game (11.6, 1st in NEC), 71st in 3-pointers per game (7.3, 3rd in NEC) and 76th in 3-point defense (.318, 3rd in NEC).
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs close out their 2014-15 regular-season road schedule Thursday, Feb. 19 when Bryant travels to Staten Island for a 7:00 p.m. tilt against Wagner College. The Bulldogs will then return home for the final three games of the regular season.
