The Archway

Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Sports

The Bulldogs season started off on a low point as they lost all three of their games over their opening weekend. (Courtesy of Bryant Athletics)

The Bryant University Men's Basketball Team tipped off their season last weekend in the World Vision Invitational in Providence with games against Providence College, Mercer University, and Bucknell University. On Friday night, the Bulldogs were dominated by Providence College, falling 96-53, the worst loss that the team has suffered in the program's brief Division I history. On Saturday, the Bulldogs faced similar results as they were defeated 80-56 by Mercer University. On Sunday afternoon, the Bulldogs took a step in the right direction when they were edged out 59-56 by the Patriot League's Bucknell University.

In the season opener, the Bulldogs were overpowered in every aspect of the game by their in-state foe Providence College on their home court. Junior Barry Latham was the leading scorer for Bryant, scoring 12 points off the bench. Freshman Vladyslav Kondratyev also chipped in with 9 points in his first official game in a Bulldog uniform.

Providence, which plays in the Big East Conference (which is arguably the toughest and deepest conference in all of college basketball) had many questions coming into the game with 8 new players, and they were all answered in their season opener. The Friars, who last season defeated Pittsburgh, the number one ranked team in the country at the time, dominated the Bulldogs up and down the floor all night. They jumped out to a lead from the tip, and never looked back. Their lead got up to as much as 51 points with 3:45 remaining in the game. The Friars scored 30 points off Bryant turnovers, while the Bulldogs scored 0 points off turnovers by the Friars.

Red-shirt sophomore Papa Lo, playing in his first game as a member of the Bryant University basketball team said, "They were just better than us. They were faster, more athletic, and just better."

Fast-forward about 20 hours, and the Bulldogs were back on the court at the Dunkin Donuts Center to match up with Mercer University, a school from Atlanta, Georgia that plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference. This is a team that defeated Division I powers Auburn and Alabama last season in consecutive games, a team with much more experience and success at the Division I level than Bryant, which is in just the second year of the transition process of becoming an official Division I program. In similar fashion as the previous night, the Bulldogs let the game get away right from the start, falling behind 18-4 in the opening moments. They were never able to fully recover from the big first half deficit with a half-time score of 45-21.

Continued...

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