Purple Knights News

February 14, 2007

Men Win, Women Fall To Bryant In NE-10 Basketball Doubleheader


COLCHESTER, Vt. ? Saint Michael's College and Bryant University split a Northeast-10 Conference basketball doubleheader on Wednesday at the Ross Sports Center. In the opener, the Purple Knight women suffered a 78-73 loss to the Bulldogs, and in the nightcap, the Saint Michael's men picked up a key 74-68 victory versus Bryant.

In the men's game, James Sorrentine (Pawtucket, R.I./Saint Raphael Academy) became the 39th player in program history to score 1,000 career points, helping Saint Michael's (14-11, 11-9 NE-10) snap a five-game losing skid and all but clinch a home playoff game. Sorrentine finished with 13 points, and is the first junior to reach the milestone since Mark Pater '01 and Todd Roberts '01 did so during the 1999-2000 season. Senior Chris Cayole (Burlington, Vt./Rice Memorial) led the Purple Knights with a game-high 19 points and a team-best 10 rebounds, hitting 7-of-11 shots from the field. Classmate Brendan Mullins (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South), the last Purple Knight to reach the 1,000-point plateau, added 16 points and a game-best six assists, while junior Brian Monahan (Kinderhook, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy) recorded 11 points and 10 rebounds.

For Bryant (16-9, 12-8 NE-10), junior Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange, N.J.) had 17 points and nine rebounds, hitting 8-of-11 shots from the field. Senior Dan Hammond (Brunswick, Maine) added 13 points, two blocks and two steals, while freshman Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, Conn.) recorded 10 points. Senior Chris Burns (Merrimack, N.H.), Bryant's leading scorer at 14.8 points per game entering the contest, was held to just nine points on 3-of-14 shooting from the field, all 3-point attempts. The Bulldogs shot just 35 percent from the field in the contest, just 8-of-28 from beyond the arc, and just 10-of-18 from the foul line.

Bryant held a 35-34 lead at halftime, and had its final lead at 46-45 with 15:45 to go. Saint Michael's stretched its lead to a game-high eight points, 66-58, with less than four minutes remaining, but Bryant then went on a 7-0 run to pull within 66-65 with 1:53 to play. A Mullins 3-pointer as the shot clock was winding down pushed the Purple Knights' lead back to four, but a 3-point play from sophomore Orlando Baeza (Palmdale, Calif.) with 23 seconds left cut Bryant's deficit to 69-68. With 13.5 seconds left, Sorrentine hit two free throws, the 1,000th and 1,001st points of his career, and Cayole sealed the victory with a steal and 3-point play in the waning seconds, helping the hosts edge Bryant, ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Rankings released earlier today.

In the women's contest, senior Joanna Skiba (Providence, R.I.) tallied a career-high 33 points and added six assists off the bench as Bryant (17-8, 13-7 NE-10) won for the seventh time in its last eight contests. Freshman Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) added 13 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Lauren Rubenoff (New Hartford, Conn.) netted 10 points. Bryant connected on 9-of-18 3-pointers, including 7-of-12 from Skiba, and committed just 10 turnovers in the victory.

For Saint Michael's (10-14, 7-13 NE-10), senior Jevy Rayner (Westminster, Vt./Bellows Falls Union) scored 17 points, and became the 16th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau, a feat last matched earlier this season by twin sister Dani Rayner (Westminster, Vt./Bellows Falls Union). Dani Rayner added 10 points and five rebounds in the setback, while junior Allison Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) netted 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Sophomore Anna Florent (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider) chipped in with 10 points off the bench as the Purple Knights outrebounded Bryant 41-38, but shot just 15-of-24 from the foul line.

Bryant led by five at halftime, 41-36, and stretched its lead to a game-high 12 points, 57-45, with less than 13 minutes to go. Saint Michael's slowly chipped away at the deficit, and pulled to within 74-72 on a lay-up from Jevy Rayner with 1:27 to go. After Skiba missed a 3-pointer for Bryant, Jevy Rayner was fouled with 24 seconds remaining. She made her first free throw to reach the 1,000-point plateau and trim the lead to 74-73, but missed the second attempt. Skiba made both free throws at the other end with 17 seconds left, pushing the Bulldogs' lead to 76-73. An off-balance 3-pointer by Dani Rayner with five seconds to play hit the side of the rim, and two more Skiba free throws with two seconds to go sealed the victory for Bryant, ranked ninth in the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Rankings released earlier today.

Saint Michael's returns to action on Saturday, as the Purple Knights play their final home games of the regular season versus league-rival Pace University (women at 1:30 p.m., men at 3:30 p.m.). Bryant next plays a doubleheader at Southern Connecticut State University on Saturday (women at 1:30 p.m., men at 3:30 p.m.).

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