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Bryant avoids letdown to secure a tournament home game

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – So much was on the line two nights earlier for Bryant that it was easy to forget something: they had one more game on Saturday. Besides the quick turnaround, it’s a classic scenario for a letdown since they were at home against one of the worst teams in the conference. But they got their focus together in time and broke the game open early in the second half for an 85-60 win over St. Francis (Pa.) to wrap up at least one home game in the Northeast Conference Tournament.

Thursday night was the big showdown with Robert Morris, and a game anyone in the building won’t soon forget. But the Bulldogs still needed to win on Saturday because the NEC was a jumbled mess behind Robert Morris coming into Saturday, and win they did. After all of Saturday’s games had played out, the Bulldogs were the No. 4 seed and get at least one home game in the NEC Tournament.

Bryant had a 41-30 lead at the half, then broke the game wide open to start the second half and never looked back. They were clearly better, dominating not only by shooting over 65 percent from the field, but also with a huge 41-16 edge on the glass and a 44-18 edge in points in the paint. With all of that, they easily overcame 12 turnovers to St. Francis’ six (and they had 19 assists) and posted their highest margin of victory of the season.

“This group has been great this year, they just don’t do that,” said head coach Tim O’Shea on avoiding a letdown. “They lose a game, they come back and play the next game. A lot of it is Alex (Francis) and Frankie (Dobbs), they knew what was at stake today.”

Added Francis: “Today, we turned the page. It was all about our seniors today, because it was their big day for them and their families. We just came in, did what we have to do, we executed, and won as a team.”

Indeed, they won as a team, with five players scoring in double figures. Dobbs was not one of those players, but as has been the case he was a cool hand at the point that made everything go. He had seven points but handed out seven assists with just one turnover to set the tone, and he will be as much a key to how far they go as anyone.

Bryant will enter the conference tournament fully confident that they can win it all. They will start at home on Wednesday night, and if an upset happens along the way they could get another home game. They spent a good deal of time in first place, they have knocked off every team in the conference except LIU at least once, and they beat Robert Morris on the road early in NEC play. They can score with anyone and can pose some matchup problems.

“Anybody’s capable of winning,” said O’Shea. “The number one seed, Robert Morris, whoever they play is going to be a tough game.”

O’Shea has set the program up as much as possible to be in a position to contend this season, their first being eligible for the NEC Tournament. They didn’t have any seniors last season and have five this time around, although only Dobbs and Vlad Kondratyev play significant minutes among them. No one figured things would play out as they have in terms of how the team came together, but things like a boot camp and then their trip to Italy last summer went a long way towards the team’s chemistry, which is usually the goal of such trips.

The road to a conference championship will be a little tougher than it looked a few weeks ago. Prior to the season, few thought this team would even be in the tournament, let alone in the discussion as a team that might be able to win it. They’ve already come far from last season, and now they hope to continue that progress starting on Wednesday night against Mount St. Mary’s.

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