Bryant University men’s basketball beat Thomas College 147-39 Monday night.
Coming off their first NCAA Tournament bid, Bryant’s Division I men’s team went 22-10 (15-2) and won the Northeast Conference last season. The Thomas Terriers, a Division III team, went 4-14 (1-10 in North Atlantic Conference play).
Bryant Head coach Jared Grasso defended running the score up, saying “I’m never going to tell my guys to stop playing hard… whether we’re playing Thomas or we’re playing Kentucky.”
According to Grasso, he “really spread the minutes out” for starters in the second half and had the team stop pressing with “10 to 12 minutes left” in the game.
However, he says that the style of play is something that could not be altered. “We play really hard, we pressure, we play fast and right now we have to improve,” he said. “In terms of style of play, I can’t change what we’re going to do.”
Grasso also asserted that the victory was an exercise in character building. “I don’t care about the score, I don’t care who we’re playing, it’s about us being mature enough to be up 50 points right now and show up and play the right way in the second half,” he said.
While the matchup is listed on Thomas’ schedule as an exhibition game, the win will contribute to Bryant’s regular season record.
Doug Edert put up 19 points in Bryant’s victory over Thomas. The former star in St. Peter’s “March Madness” Cinderella story committed to transfer to Bryant in April, and will likely be key in Grasso’s efforts to “improve” the team.
Never without his signature mustache, Edert hit a trio of threes in the first two and a half minutes of the second half, helping to run up that score and secure the Bulldogs 108-point win.