Men's Basketball Cages the Bobcats

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.—After taking a 20-point lead in the second half, the Barry men’s basketball team escaped the St. Thomas Bobcats with a 74-69 win on Saturday.

On an Erick Nsangou jumper with 00:06 left to play in the first half, Barry took a commanding 18-point lead into the locker room at the brand new Fernandez Family Center. Then 00:15 seconds after the second half started, Marvin Davis made a layup to extend the Buccaneer lead to 20.

After the Davis layup, St. Thomas standout Antonio Jones took over for the Bobcats. Jones scored the next seven points for St. Thomas and cut the lead down to 13. On a 29-point second half performance, Jones’ Bobcats took a 63-62 lead at the 06:14 mark. The game came down to one possession with Barry leading by three. Junior forward Jeran Morris posted a big block in the paint to preserve the three-point Buccaneer lead with 00:13 seconds to play. Senior Tony Dennison made two clutch free throws to give Barry a five-point advantage.

Dennison contributed 15 points and four rebounds. Nsangou lead the Buccaneers with 17 points and also added five rebounds and two assists. Zack Trapp shot 50 percent from behind the arc and tallied 13 points. A huge contributor to the Barry win was the team’s 88 percent shooting mark from the free throw line, landing 30-34.

The Buccaneers take almost a week off for finals, then are back on the court this Friday, Dec. 18 to face the same St. Thomas team. This time the game is in the friendly confines of the Health and Sports Center. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. with pregame coverage starting at 6:30 on the Buccaneer Broadcasting Network.


Newspaper Box Score
Barry vs St. Thomas
12/12/09 7:00 at Miami Gardens, Fla
At Miami Gardens, Fla
BARRY 74, ST. THOMAS 69
BARRY (7-1)
NSANGOU, Erick 5-16 7-8 17; DENNISON, Tony 2-9 11-11 15; TRAPP, Zack 5-10
0-0 13; CHIVERTON, Bryan 1-4 7-9 9; DAVIS, Marvin 4-4 0-0 8; WHITE, Evan 1-2
2-2 5; RAYMONVIL, Vladimir 1-2 1-2 3; BISHOP, Chad 0-7 2-2 2; MORRIS, Jeran
1-1 0-0 2; BENDEKE, Julien 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-56 30-34 74.
ST. THOMAS (2-4)
Antonio Jones 11-27 7-8 33; Preston Jackson 6-10 2-5 14; Kristaps Brencans
2-5 4-4 9; Patrick Louissaint 1-2 2-3 4; Tracy Razz 2-12 0-0 4; Ian Gregory
0-1 2-2 2; David Nesbitt 1-2 0-0 2; Walter Fortson 0-3 1-2 1; Zack Hackett
0-2 0-0 0; Anthony Peavy 0-2 0-0 0; Robert Ford 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-68
18-24 69.
Barry......................... 38 36 - 74
St. Thomas.................... 20 49 - 69
3-point goals--Barry 4-14 (TRAPP, Zack 3-6; WHITE, Evan 1-2; BISHOP, Chad
0-1; BENDEKE, Julien 0-1; DENNISON, Tony 0-4), St. Thomas 5-21 (Antonio
Jones 4-15; Kristaps Brencans 1-1; Tracy Razz 0-2; Zack Hackett 0-1; Anthony
Peavy 0-1; Robert Ford 0-1). Fouled out--Barry-CHIVERTON, Bryan; BENDEKE,
Julien, St. Thomas-Patrick Louissaint; Preston Jackson. Rebounds--Barry 30
(BISHOP, Chad 6; CHIVERTON, Bryan 6), St. Thomas 38 (Preston Jackson 14).
Assists--Barry 5 (BISHOP, Chad 2; NSANGOU, Erick 2), St. Thomas 6 (Tracy
Razz 3). Total fouls--Barry 22, St. Thomas 28. Technical fouls--Barry-None,
St. Thomas-None.