Bryant: 2024-25 America East Men's Basketball Champions

 

Bryant men’s basketball is headed to its second NCAA Tournament in school history after beating Maine, 77-59, in the America East Tournament championship game Saturday.

Maine was making a run for its first tournament appearance in history before being denied by the Bulldogs (23-11, 14-2), who amassed an 11-point halftime lead and held on for a double-digit win on their home court in Smithfield, R.I.

The Bulldogs’ only other NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2022, Bryant’s final season as a member of the Northeast Conference, when they beat Wagner in the conference tournament championship to punch their ticket.

Coach Phil Martelli Jr., named the America East coach of the year this season, was the Bulldogs’ associate head coach that year before being promoted to his current position in 2023.

Bryant now awaits its first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament. The 68-team field will be announced during the selection show on CBS starting at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Sophomore Barry Evans, named the America East newcomer of the year after transferring from St. Bonaventure, led the Bulldogs with 19 points and 7 rebounds. Conference player of the year Earl Timberlake scored 17 for Bryant, while Maine’s A.J. Lopez led the all scorers with 20 points.

Bryant entered halftime with its largest lead of the first half, heading into the locker room up 38-27. The Bulldogs extended the margin in the second half, leading by as many as 21.

Maine made a late push, cutting Bryant’s lead down to 13 with under six minutes remaining, but Bryant stayed hot to close out the blowout win.

The top-seeded Bulldogs beat UMBC, 85-74, in the first round before taking down Albany, 91-78, to earn a spot in the conference tournament final.

Bryant: 2021-22 Northeast Men's Basketball Champions

SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- — Peter Kiss had 34 points and a season-high five steals and top-seeded Bryant cruised to 70-43 win over Wagner on Tuesday night for the first Northeast Conference tournament championship in program history.

But the game was marred by a fight in the stands among fans. With 4:37 to play and the Bulldogs leading 68-32, play stopped for nearly 30 minutes. A small section of seats mostly occupied by Wagner fans sat next to Bryant's student's section and the contentious atmosphere led to a scuffle. None of the players or coaches made it into the stands, though Wagner's Will Martinez attempted to and was ejected from the game and several players had to be restrained.

Bryant (22-9) set the Division I program record for wins this season and clinched its first NCAA Tournament berth since beginning the transition from Division II in 2008.

Kiss, the nation's leading scorer at 24.7 per game, made 13 of 23 from the field and 4 of 5 from 3-point range and finished with six rebounds, three assists and five steals. The senior has scored at least 25 points in 13 of his last 17 games and has scored at least 30 points 10 times this season.

Raekwon Rogers led No. 2 seed Wagner (21-6) with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting. The rest of the Seahawks shot 22% (11 of 50) from the field. Alex Morales, who averages 18.2 points per game and was recently named the NEC player of the year for the second consecutive season, scored three points on 0-of-16 shooting for Wagner.

Charles Pride had 13 points and career-high tying 17 rebounds for Bryant.

Kiss had a shot knocked away by Morales and then Rogers made a layup to give the Seahawks a 2-0 lead 38 seconds in but Bryant ripped off 36 of the next 40 points. Pride made back-to-back layups to give the Bulldogs the lead for good about 2 minutes later before Kiss took over — muscling up shots in the lane, hitting contested 3s, throwing and catching alley-oops.

Kiss scored 17 points in 11 1/2 minutes to make it 36-6 after he took a steal the other way for a two-hand dunk with 4:44 left in the first half.