BOX SCORE

Staten Island, NY – Vlad Kondratyev scored 14 points to lead a balanced effort as Bryant defeated Wagner 53-51 at the Spiro Sports Center. For the Bulldogs, it was their first win of the season and moves their record to 1-26 overall, 1-14 in Northeast Conference play. With the loss, the Seahawks fall to 4-24 overall, 2-13 in the NEC. 

This was a nip-and-tuck affair throughout as the game featured four ties and six lead changes. Bryant took its biggest lead of the game of nine at 36-27 with 17:38 to play on a three-pointer by Kondratyev. The Seahawks responded with a 12-0 run to retake the lead at 39-36, a run fueled by three-point jumpers by sophomore guards Tyler Murray (Toronto, Ontario/Eastern Commerce) and Chris Martin (Sicklerville, NJ/Apex Academies) and a gorgeous alley-oop from Murray to freshman forward Josh Thompson (Richland, NJ/St. Augustine Prep). Bryant fought back to regain the lead with a 7-3 spurt capped by a three-point jumper by Claybrin McMath that put the Bulldogs back on top 43-42 with 7:19 left in the game. 

A baseline jumper by senior forward Doug Elwell (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) tied the game at 48-48 with 3:35 to play. Kondratyev answered with a jumper of his own to put Bryant up 50-48 at the 2:58 mark. Senior center Michael Orock (Hoboken, NJ/Hoboken) then made one of two free throws with 2:38 left to make it 50-49. A layup by Elwell off a pretty feed from Thompson gave the Seahawks their final lead of the game at 51-50. Kondratyev then made one of two from the line with 1:07 to go tie the game at 51-51. 

With the game still knotted at 51-51, Thompson came up with a steal with seven seconds to play and tried a desperation 70-foot shot that caromed off the ceiling with 4.8 seconds to go, giving the ball back to Bryant. With 0.8 seconds remaining, Raphael Jordan drew a foul by Martin and calmly made both free throws to seal the 53-51 victory for the Bulldogs. 

Thompson and Martin led Wagner in scoring with 12 points apiece while Elwell and Murray chipped in with eight points each. Elwell added four blocks and three steals while Murray distributed seven assists for Wagner who outshot the Bulldogs 44 percent to 43 percent. For Bryant, Jordan wound up with eight points on the evening while McMath and Sam Leclerc finished with seven points each. 

Bryant took a 28-23 lead into halftime and was led in scoring in the first half by McMath who had all seven of his points in the opening stanza. Martin paced the Seahawks in the first half with nine points on the strength of 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range. Wagner's last lead of the first half was 19-17 with 9:04 to go before a McMath three-point jumper put the Bulldogs back on top by a 20-19 margin. 

Wagner is next in action on Saturday, Feb. 20 when the Seahawks play host to Central Connecticut St. in a 7:00 pm start.