Bresnan, Men's Basketball Power Back for 78-74 Win Over Assumption

WORCESTER, M.A. (11/19/2022) – After a lackluster first half, the Franklin Pierce men's basketball team stormed back in the second half for a close 78-74 win over Assumption at the Laska Gymnasium on Saturday evening. The contest was the first Northeast-10 Conference matchup of the 2022-2023 season for both teams.

The Ravens move to 2-1 (1-0 NE10), while Assumption falls to 2-2 (0-1 NE10) with the result. Both teams will face each other once more before the conclusion of the regular season.

In the first half, the Greyhounds quickly jumped ahead to an early 6-0 lead, but a rapid response by the Ravens saw five straight points in quick succession from a Sean Bresnan (Yonkers, NY) layup and a Jarnel Snow-Guzman (Lynn, Massachusetts) three-pointer. Through the middle of the half, each team traded both points and chances, until the Greyhounds pulled away with a 17-6 run to claim a 39-26 advantage with three minutes left in the first half. As a result, the wind was removed from the Raven sails, as they failed to gain any momentum on both fronts to try and cut the deficit. To close out the opening 20 minutes, the Greyhounds would carry a 47-31 lead to the locker room. Sean Bresnan led the way for Pierce, going 3-for-6 with seven points in the first half, while senior Brandon Kolek (Cumberland, Rhode Island) matched his seven points on the scoresheet.   

From the opening tip, each team trips up and down the court, but costly turnovers by the Greyhounds hurt them towards the end of the game. The Ravens were cutting it close in the final few seconds when they missed multiple free throws, which gave the Greyhounds a fighting chance in the last ten seconds of the game. Mohamed Traore (Hyde Park, Massachusetts) sealed the win by making one of two free throws to give his team a four-point lead. 

Entering the bottom frame, the Ravens began to click offensively with six points in the first minute of action. As Franklin Pierce slowly began chipping away at the Greyhound lead, Assumption found a way to maintain their lead, visibly holding steady at 62-54 with 10 minutes left to play in the contest. At the seven minute mark, Sean Bresnan and Brandon Kolek picked up where they left off to lead the Ravens to an 8-1 scoring run to suddenly bringing them back into the fold trailing 63-62 lead. Over the course of the next four minutes, the Ravens and Greyhounds would continue to match each other's point totals, before the Ravens claimed their first lead of the game, 73-71, on a three-pointer from Sean Bresnan. Sophomore Mohamad Traore (Hyde Park, Mass.) kept the streak alive with another triple from beyond the arc, putting the Ravens up by a five-point margin. With Assumption out of gas, the Ravens survived the night on a final free throw from Traore, finalizing the win at 78-74.  

Sean Bresnan finished the night with a double-double performance, leading all scorers with 25 total points, 11 rebounds and three assists while going 9-of-13 (69.2%) from the floor. As a team, the Ravens shot 44.3 percent (27-of-61) from the field, along with 48.3 percent (14-of-29) success from the three-point line and an even 50 percent (10-of-20) from free throws. 

Men's Basketball will make their return to The Fieldhouse on Monday, November 21^st for a rare, early week matinee versus California University (PA) at Noon.