Robert Morris Comes Back Late To Take Down Bryant Basketball In Smithfield

Bryant University Press Release

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Despite entering the final six minutes with a seven-point lead, the Bryant University men’s basketball team would be outscored by Robert Morris, 13-3, in the final four minutes of the game as the Colonials got the last word in a tight battle, winning, 76-70, Saturday at the Chace Athletic Center.

Senior guard Dyami Starks (Duluth, Minn.) led the Bulldogs (13-14, 10-6 Northeast Conference) with 18 points, including a 5-for-13 mark from beyond the arc, while redshirt-freshman Bosko Kostur (Melbourne, Australia) chipped in 14 and junior guards Shane McLaughlin (Old Tappan, N.J.) and Curtis Oakley (South Euclid, Ohio) each added 11 on the afternoon. McLaughlin dished out eight helpers with two steals on the day. Senior guard Joe O’Shea (Burlington, Vt.) pulled in a game-high six rebounds and added seven points with three assists.

Rodney Pryor paced the Colonials (14-14, 10-6) and the game with 24 points off 9-of-15 shooting and pulled in five rebounds, while Lucky Jones added 14 points with a game-high six rebounds. Marcquise Reed chipped in 13 on the afternoon, and Elijah Minnie registered 12 more for the visitors.

The Bulldogs outshot the Colonials, .500 to .458, but Robert Morris won the advantage on the glass, 34-27. Bryant shot a season-best .483 (14-29) from beyond the arc.

Six-straight points gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the opening half with eight minutes to play, 23-14, but a 10-3 spurt favoring the Colonials drew the visitors within a basket, 26-24, after the second of back-to-back triples from Pryor.

But Robert Morris wouldn’t draw the score even before the intermission, with a Starks block on Reed’s final shot of the frame sending the Bulldogs into the locker room with a 36-31 advantage.

Less than four minutes into the second half, however, a Pryor jumper would give the Colonials their first edge since the opening minutes, 40-39, and the teams would trade leads over the next eight minutes until consecutive treys from Starks, Kostur and Starks again handed the Black and Gold a 63-56 advantage with just under seven to play.

A four-point swing thanks to an and-one after a Jones 3-pointer would pull the visitors within a possession, 65-63, with 5:20 left in the contest, and Reed would tie it up at 67-67 with four-straight free throw makes to bring the clock down to 3:30.

O’Shea would knock down the Bulldogs’ season-high 14th triple of the day with 3:02 to go, but it would be his final stat of the game, as the senior fouled out just seconds later with the score knotted at 70-70.

Sophomore forward Dan Garvin (Bethel, Conn.) (9 points) would miss the front end of a one-and-one with 1:43 left on the clock, and a broken play less than a minute later would hand the ball to the Colonials with 49 ticks remaining and the score still stuck at 70-70.

Pryor would net the go-ahead basket with 34.4 seconds to go, and a Starks missed 3-pointer would force Bryant to foul with 18.4 ticks left, trailing by two. Jones hit both from the stripe, and when an Oakley layup rolled off the rim, the home side would send Robert Morris back to the line with just 7.8 seconds to play. Reed would sink both, as the Colonials held on for the 76-70 victory.

Bryant returns to the court for its final two regular-season games of the year, both at home, starting Thursday night. The Bulldogs welcome Central Connecticut to the Chace Athletic Center at 7:00 p.m.