How did Bryant basketball do without one of their top players? Rafael Pinzon is the answer
SMITHFIELD — No Earl Timberlake, no problem for Bryant in its America East tournament opener.
The Bulldogs dominated the second half to dispatch Maine in a Saturday afternoon quarterfinal. Rafael Pinzon put together a career performance and Daniel Rivera notched another double-double to cover for the absent all-conference selection.
It was Bryant booking a Tuesday semifinal berth at UMass Lowell courtesy of this 84-58 cruise past the Black Bears. The Bulldogs turned a four-point lead with 16:26 left into a romp, and the Chace Athletic Center crowd saluted a team that has hit the 20-win mark overall for the second time in three seasons.
“Super proud of the effort all the way across the board,” Bryant coach Phil Martelli Jr. said. “Everybody who stepped foot on that floor gave us something.”
More: With playoffs on the horizon, Bryant basketball bolsters its resume by beating Maine.
More: Bryant's postseason path might have just gotten rockier — what happened vs. UMass Lowell.
Timberlake (left hand) was sidelined for the second straight game after being honored by the league earlier in the week. Miles Latimer stepped into the starting lineup and a pair of transfers from St. John’s and Saint Louis did the heavy lifting. Pinzon fired in 21 of his career-high 35 points in the first half and Rivera collected a fourth straight double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds.
“I’m just doing what the coach needs me to do and what the team needs me to do,” Pinzon said. “I got it going in the beginning of the game. I just kept going.”
“We have a major, all-league player who’s out,” Rivera said. “We’re just making sure our bodies are ready to do those things.”
Bryant enjoyed a 15-point lead late in the first half, but Adam Cisse’s thunderous dunk early in the second half brought Maine within striking distance at 49-45. The Bulldogs answered with the afternoon’s deciding run, as Pinzon buried a 3-pointer from the left wing and Doug Edert knocked down another from the left corner. Sherif Gross-Bullock's pair of rim attacks and Pinzon’s soft floater in the lane made it a 68-46 cushion with 8:45 left — it was a 19-1 burst in what felt like a flash.
“They lose [Timberlake] and guys like Latimer have been playing great basketball to close the season,” Maine coach Chris Markwood said. “They just have a lot of guys who they can throw at you.”
Bryant hadn’t held an opponent under 60 points since Jan. 25. The Bulldogs locked up NJIT in a 70-55 road win, a victory that sealed a 5-0 start in conference play. The Black Bears shot just 27.3% in the second half and closed 6-for-22 from 3-point range for the game.
“We had a really good energy to us,” Martelli said. “We were locked in, I could tell. Thursday’s film session we were locked in on the defensive end especially.”
Pinzon managed just a combined nine points in losses against Vermont and the River Hawks, and Bryant (20-12) dropped three straight while sinking to the No. 3 seed. He’s bounced back with 19 points against the Highlanders, 27 against Albany and this superb performance. Pinzon was 14-for-20 from the field, 6-for-8 from 3-point range and committed just two turnovers in 32 minutes.
“It comes from the days before,” Pinzon said. “We’ve been preparing our bodies and taking shots to be sure we’re ready to go on game day.”
Rivera has scored in double figures in each of his last five and is averaging 12.4 boards during that stretch. Maine (15-17) suffered a 41-23 spanking on the glass and was outscored by a 34-18 count in the paint. The Black Bears entered with a top-100 defense nationally in adjusted points per possession but were sliced for 1.25 in this one.
“I know what we have,” Martelli said. “As long as we’re connected and playing the right way, I’ll use that word confidence again. We’re confident.”
The Bulldogs dropped both meetings against UMass Lowell this season — 86-77 at home and 89-67 on the road. Both of those defeats came inside the last three weeks, and the River Hawks advanced thanks to a 94-89 overtime thriller against UMBC. The two teams will tip at a time to be determined, and Bryant’s second conference final berth in three years is 40 minutes away.
“We’ve done all this work,” Martelli said. “We’ve gone at each other every day. We’ve competed against each other every day.
“Why not give ourselves a chance?”
bkoch@providencejournal.com
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MAINE (58): Cisse 1-4 2-2 4, Filipovity 5-11 4-4 16, Clayton 2-6 1-2 6, Tynes 3-8 2-2 9, Wright-McLeish 2-7 0-0 5, Lopez 1-5 3-5 5, Burns 4-11 0-0 9, Feierbergs 1-7 2-2 4, Carey 0-0 0-0 0, Perovic 0-0 0-1 0. Totals: 19-59 14-18 58.
BRYANT (84): Brelsford 2-3 3-4 9, Gross-Bullock 4-9 4-4 12, Latimer 1-3 0-0 3, Pinzon 14-20 1-2 35, Rivera 6-14 1-1 13, Withers 1-1 0-0 3, Edert 3-3 0-0 7, Mitchell 1-1 0-0 2, Kiggins 0-0 0-0 0, Rochelle 0-0 0-0 0, Shannon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 32-55 9-11 84.
Halftime — Bryant 47-36. 3-point goals — Maine 6-22 (Filipovity 2-4, Tynes 1-2, Clayton 1-3, Burns 1-4, Wright-McLeish 1-5, Feierbergs 0-2, Lopez 0-2), Bryant 11-17 (Pinzon 6-8, Brelsford 2-3, Edert 1-1, Latimer 1-1, Withers 1-1, Gross-Bullock 0-3). Rebounds — Maine 20 (Filipovity 6), Bryant 38 (Rivera 15). Assists — Maine 9 (Clayton 3), Bryant 17 (Gross-Bullock 6). Total fouls — Maine 12, Bryant 16. Records — Maine 15-17, Bryant 20-12. A — 1,147 (2,000).
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Bryant Bulldogs beat Maine Black Bears in America East quarterfinals
