SMITHFIELD, RI – The St. Francis Brooklyn men's basketball team (8-6, 0-1 NEC) fell to Bryant (4-8, 1-0 NEC), 76-66, in the Northeast Conference opener on Thursday night. The defeat marks the first time since the 2015-16 season that the Terriers were edged in the first game of their conference slate.
St. Francis Brooklyn had four players score in double figures, with graduate guard
Glenn Sanabria and sophomore guard
Jalen Jordan leading the way with 14 points apiece. The Terriers are now 11-7 all-time against the Bulldogs dating back to the first meeting in the series which came in the 2008-09 season.
The Terriers trailed 37-34 after the first half of play and were led by Jordan who scored all of his points in the opening frame. Before the final buzzer in the first half, the Terriers took a timeout with three seconds to play. Following the timeout, Sanabria inbounded the ball to senior guard
Keon Williams, Williams dished it back to Sanabria who took the ball over half court and nailed a three as time expired. The three marked Sanabria's 200th of his career.
In the second half, the Terriers and Bulldogs traded blows for nearly the entire frame until Bryant closed the game on a 9-0 run over the final 2:04 of play. The Bulldogs went 23-of-26 from the free-throw line in the second half and 32-of-36 for the game. Bryant was able to take control of a lead late in the game and outscored the Terriers, 39-32, in the second half.
As a team, the Terriers shot 42.6 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from three, and 81.3 percent from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs shot 50.0 percent, 22.2 percent from three-point range, and 88.9 percent from the charity stripe. Bryan was paced by SaBastian Townes who scored 28 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor and went 13-of-16 from the line.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
St. Francis Brooklyn – 66 | Bryant – 76
- Sanabria scored 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 from three. With his buzzer beater from nearly half court, he became just the seventh player in program history with 200 career made three-pointers. He is also the only active player in the NEC with 200 makes from behind the arc. Sanabria has scored in double figures in back-to-back games and has done so in four out of his last five contests. With his 14 points tonight, Sanabria moves in 24th place on the Terriers' all-time scoring list as he past Cliff Strong. He is now chasing Lester Yellin in 23rd place with 1,102 career points.
- Jordan finished with 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field and went 3-of-7 from three. He scored all of his points in the first half as he shot 4-of-6 and 3-of-5 from deep. Jordan has tallied double-digit point totals in 12 out of 14 games played this season.
- Sophomore forward Yaradyah Evans scored a career-high 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and pulled down five rebounds. Eight of Evans' points came in the second half. Evans had four of his points come off a pair of dunks that were set up by junior forward Deniz Celen. The 11 points mark the first time in his career that he scored in double figures.
- Celen had his second-straight game in double-digits with 10 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the field. He corralled a team-high seven rebounds in 17 minutes of action. The seven rebounds are the most for Celen since he pulled down eight in a win over St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) on December 3.
UP NEXT:
The Terriers take a short trip over the Verrazano Bridge to take on Wagner in Staten Island, NY, on Saturday, January 5, at 4 p.m.
