Box Score
Smithfield, RI - - -The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers pulled out a gritty, 73-69, victory against the Bryant Bulldogs on Thursday evening at the Chance Athletic Center. The Red & Blue are now in a four-way tie for second-place in the Northeast Conference as they improved to 7-4 and 10-13 overall.
Terrier junior guard
Glenn Sanabria scored a team-high 21 points and added six assists against no turnovers to pace the offense. Sophomore guard
Rasheem Dunn added 16 points, six rebounds and four steals and classmate
Milija Cosic came off the bench to score 13 points and grab five boards in 17 minutes. Junior forward
Joshua Nurse added career-highs in rebounds (eight) and blocks (four).
In a game that featured six ties and 12 lead changes, it was the Terriers that made the big plays down the stretch to pull off their fourth road victory of the season.
"I'm proud of the guys for coming up with a really good win on the road tonight," said Terriers' head coach
Glenn Braica. "They {Bryant} are a good team and we knew it was going to be a war. I'm really happy for Gunnar {Olafsson}, who got his chance tonight and was ready. He made a big difference and his toughness was a big key to the game."
Olafsson, who has battled injuries all season and had only played a combined seven minutes in league play this year, grabbed a career-best eight rebounds and added nine points (4-of-5 fga) in 21 minutes off the bench. He also drew a key charge late in the contest.
"It felt good to be out there and I'm glad that I was able to contribute to a victory," said the senior forward Olafsson. "I'm looking forward to making a difference for our team the rest of the season."
The Terriers took a 37-36 halftime edge as they recovered from a 12-point deficit behind 12 first-half points from Sanabria. Bryant (2-22, 1-10), however, took a 50-41 lead at the 14:37 mark as they outscored St. Francis Brooklyn by a 14-5 count to open the second stanza.
Olafsson drilled his first trifecta of the season to a cap a 12-4 run for the Terriers at the 8:47 mark, cutting the deficit to 54-53. But the Bulldogs answered right back with six straight point to grab a 60-53 advantage at the 6:44 mark.
St. Francis Brooklyn was not flustered as Dunn finished a layup and then Cosic and freshman guard
Josh Nicholas splashed back-to-back triples, giving the visitors a 61-60 lead with 6:02 remaining.
The game went back-and-forth until Sabastian Townes (game-high 23 points) converted a pair of free throws to give the Bulldogs a 66-63 lead with 1:45 remaining.
Sanabria finished a layup to bring the Terriers within 66-65 at the 1:30 mark and then Dunn came up with perhaps the biggest play of the game as he swiped the inbounds pass. Dunn was fouled on the play and converted two clutch free throws to give St. Francis Brooklyn the lead for good at 67-66.
Cosic then came up with a big rebound off a missed 3-pointer, was fouled, and calmly sank two more freebies to spot the Red & Blue a 69-66 advantage with 1:04 remaining.
Bryant cut it to 70-69 with 17 seconds left after Ikenna Ndugba hit two from the line, however, Sanabria swished both of his attempts from the charity-stripe to re-store a 72-69 edge with 15 ticks left.
Ndugba missed a layup with nine seconds left and Nichols delivered one of two from the line to put the game away.
The Terriers will travel to first-place Wagner on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
