FRANKLIN, Mass. – January 18, 2022 – The Dean College men's basketball team fell to Johnson & Wales, 77-67, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action Tuesday evening.
Dean falls to 5-7 overall and 0-5 in conference play. The Bulldogs host Saint Joseph's (Maine) on Saturday at 1 p.m. JWU improves to 6-6 overall and 4-2 in the GNAC. The Wildcats play at Emmanuel on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Freshman
Dion Zhuta (Middlebury, Conn.) led the Dean scoring attack with 16 points on 7-8 shooting in 20 minutes off the bench. Junior
Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) recorded 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Senior
Traijan Powell (Sierra Vista, Ariz.) was the third Bulldog in double figures with 10 points. Freshman
Joshua Richardson (Sydney, Australia) had four blocks.
JWU received an impressive double-double of 18 points and 19 rebounds from senior Bryan Davis (Miramar, Fla.). The forward was 7-9 from the floor and had half of the team's rebounds. Freshman Josh Zangerle (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) and junior Aireus Raspberry (Cranston, R.I.) each scored 14, while junior Bobby Fiorito (East Providence, R.I.) chipped in with 10 points.
The opening 10 minutes of action was back and forth before JWU used a 10-2 run, capped by a Davis layup, to take a 19-13 lead. The Wildcats ended the half with a Raspberry three-pointer to take their biggest lead of the game, 40-22, heading into the halftime break. Davis had a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds in the half. The Wildcats caused 14 first-half turnovers, which resulted in 17 points and turned 11 offensive rebounds into 13 second chance points. Blair had seven points to lead Dean.
The Bulldogs came out of the break with energy and went on a 9-2 scoring run, in the 4+ minutes of the second, to cut the deficit to 42-31. Trailing 48-36, Dean again fought back with a 10-2 run, with eight points from Zhuta, to pull within four points. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, that would be as close as they would get as JWU benefited from Dean miscues and made 13-of-16 free throws down the stretch.
JWU had a 39-31 advantage on the glass, a 33-16 margin in points off turnovers and made 19-of-24 free throws, while Dean was 7-of-10 from the line.
