Bryant received an unwelcome men’s basketball surprise from Albany. What was it?

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SMITHFIELD — Thursday night brought an unwanted surprise for the Bryant men in America East play.

Albany sprung an upset at Chace Athletic Center, knocking off a team that rolled through the first half of its league schedule unbeaten.

Jakai Robinson’s potential tying 3-pointer rimmed out and Kacper Klaczek knocked down both ends of a 1-and-1 at the foul line with 4.6 seconds left. That was the final straw in a 68-63 thriller, as the Great Danes bolted out of town on the back of an unexpected result.

The Bulldogs owned the lead for barely eight minutes in the game and just 74 seconds in the second half. Connor Withers knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 53-52 with 8 minutes to play before Albany answered with an 8-0 run. DeMarr Langford Jr. converted a steal into a breakaway slam and Justin Neely connected on a pair of free throws with 5:05 left, two makes that came after a Bryant timeout.

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“You’ve got to learn from it,” Bryant coach Phil Martelli Jr. said. “We’ve learned from our wins. We’ve got to learn from a loss now.”

The Bulldogs still had a final chance to force overtime after Earl Timberlake spun to the rim for a layup and Kvonn Cramer came up with a steal in the frontcourt. Bryant called time again with 32.8 seconds left and Robinson missed a jumper from the right wing in a 66-63 game. The rebound caromed out of bounds, was awarded to the Great Danes after a video review and went the other way after Klaczek was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass.

“They responded when we made our pushes,” Martelli said. “Sometimes it’s just that. I feel like there were a couple plays in there — we make a layup and it’s not a run.”

Albany’s comfortable 41-28 halftime lead was noteworthy — the Bulldogs hadn’t trailed by more than 10 points during any of their first eight league games. Their 12 turnovers at the break matched a single-game high through the…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/bryant-received-unwelcome-mens-basketball-101816993.html

Author : The Providence Journal

Publish date : 2025-02-07 10:18:00

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