Leffelman's Last Second Shot Lifts Brown To 70-68 Win Over Bryant

Wednesday, November 25

4 pm

Brown University

Bryant

Leffelman's Last Second Shot Lifts Brown To 70-68 Win Over Bryant

11/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Smithfield, RI – Junior Garrett Leffelman's rebound and lay-up with three-tenths of a second remaining propelled Brown to a 70-68 come from behind victory over Bryant at the Chace Athletic Center. The win, Brown's second straight, lifts the Bears to 3-3 overall, while Bryant drops to 0-5 on the season.

Bears' senior Matt Mullery led a furious Brown second comeback from a 10-point halftime deficit, scoring 15 of his game high 21 points in the second half.

Bryant tied the game, 68-68, with 39 seconds remaining on two free throws by Cecil Gresham.

The Bears played for the last shot and ended up with a frenzied ending. Junior Peter Sullivan got off the first Brown shot in the lane that was rebounded by Mullery. His shot fell off the rim and was grabbed by Leffelman, who put in the game winning shot as he was fouled by Clay McCrath just before the final horn. Leffelman (photo by dspics.com) intentionally missed the free throw as the final buzzer sounded.

The Bears got off to a sluggish start after the short trip from Providence, falling behind by as many as 14 points in the first half, 19-5, on a lay-up by Nick Pontes, with 11:55 left in the half.

Brown shot just 35 percent in the first half (10 of 28), but cut the Bulldogs' halftime lead to 10 points, 38-28, with Senior Steve Gruber scoring 10 first half points the Bears.

With a new purpose after intermission, the Bears came out with a vengeance in the second half, tying the game, 52-52, on a three point play by freshman Matt Sullivan, and taking their first lead, 55-52, on a trey by Peter Sullivan with 10:40 left in the game.

Brown built its biggest lead, 67-59, on two free throws by Sullivan with 4:36 remaining.

Mullery scored his game high 21 points on 7 of 13 shooting from the field, while pulling down nine rebounds. Peter Sullivan scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half, while Matt Sullivan added 12 points for the Bears. Leffelman finished with four points, but most importantly, his second game-winning shot with less than one second remaining.

Gresham was the Bryant top scorer with 16 points, while Barry Latham added 14 points.

Brown will play in the Philly Hoop Group Classic on Friday, November 27 against University of the Sciences at 3 p.m., and on Saturday, November 28 against Siena at 4:00 p.m. Both games will be played at the Palestra in Philadelphia.