SMITHFIELD, RI - The Emerson Men's Basketball team put up an aggressive and determined fight on the road against the Bryant University Bulldogs at their home opener. Bryant was able to hold off the Lions assault with a final score of 82-69. For those of you unfamiliar with Bryant, they are a DI team that plays in the NEC. With the lose the Lions are now 1-2 on the season, while Bryant rises to 2-1 overall.

Both teams came out firing off the tip off, playing aggressive defense. The Bulldogs pulled out to an early 5-0 lead, but the Lions answered with a layup by freshman Mac Sashin. Moments later Michael Sheng hit a 3 pointer to tie it up at 5-5. This prompted a timeout by the Bulldogs.

Several minutes ticked by following the timeout before Emerson's Austin Pinckney weaved through the Bryant defenders, hitting a layup to give the Lions their only lead of the night, 5-7. The half ended with Bryant retaking the lead 40-35 after a flurry of scoring on both sides of the court.

As the second half started the Bulldogs extended their lead to 52-35, before Tyson Hallowell sunk a 3 pointer to end the second half scoring drought.

Sheng led the Lions with 17 points off 6-of-10 shooting and a 5-for-7 mark from downtown, while John Geary added 13 more and Will Lantier wrapped up his day with 10 points on perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the field. Geoffrey Gray (4 points) was the game's top rebounder with eight boards, also adding a contest-best six assists.

Stat leaders for the Bulldogs include Hunter Ware and Nisre Zouzoua who both scored 23 points. Andrew Scocca lead in rebounds and assists with 8 and 4 respectively.

If Men's Basketball continues the effort they displayed tonight, good things will happen, especially once they move into conference games. They played with heart, intensity, and composure.

The Lions return to action on Friday, Nov 20th, when they host the Tufts University Jumbos at 7:00pm in the Brown Plofker Gym.