Bryant senior Cecil Gresham leads balanced Bulldogs offensive attack

When Columbia tips off against Bryant on Saturday, the Lions will be focusing on the Bulldogs No. 33. Cecil Gresham is listed as both a forward and a guard on Bryant’s roster, and he is the Bulldogs’ leading scorer. Gresham’s 15.7 points per game more than double the second leading scorer for Bryant, and despite being only 6-foot-5, Gresham is tied for the most rebounds per game at 4.7.

Gresham has been a star from the start for the Bulldogs, playing in 30 of 32 games as a freshman. As a freshman, he scored 17 points against Southern New Hampshire, a mark he matched last year against C.W. Post. For his first year Gresham averaged 4.0 points, making his living from behind the arc, converting on 18 3-pointers that season.

Before attending Bryant, Gresham graduated from Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford, Conn. where he lettered in basketball, weight lifting, and track and field. Gresham did not go to college right away, however, instead attending the Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Maine for the 2005-2006 season after graduating from Kingswood in the spring of 2005.

In his second year at Bryant, Gresham began to deliver on the promise he showed as a freshman for the Bulldogs. Gresham started all 31 games that season, scoring 12.1 points per game and posting double figures 17 times. His scoring average was good for second on the team for the 2007-2008 campaign, a breakout year for Gresham. He demonstrated his ferocious scoring ability when he exploded for 36 points against Saint Anselm—he also pulled down seven rebounds that night. He posted back-to-back double-doubles against Pace and Assumption that year.

Gresham took over his junior year, leading the Bulldogs with 13.4 points per game despite facing superior competition as Bryant moved into Division I. Gresham started in 28 of 29 games in the 2008-2009 season, posting double-digit point totals 21 times. He opened off the year strong, earning an honorable mention on the Columbia Classic all-tournament team with a strong 21-point performance against Quinnipiac in the program’s first-ever Division I win. For the tournament Gresham averaged 23 points. He eclipsed the 20-point mark five times on the year. Gresham’s season high came against Monmouth, where he tallied 27 points in an impressive display of offensive ability.

Gresham will provide a challenge for Columbia this Saturday with his scoring ability and the matchup problems he causes with his size. At 6-foot-5, Gresham may prove too big for any of the Light Blue’s guards to man up against. He will be able to take Columbia’s taller post players out of the paint and use his quickness to get to the basket.

The problems that Gresham poses for Columbia mirror those that the 6-foot-5 Dana Smith presented the Lions with in their home opener against Longwood. In that game head coach Joe Jones sent out Brian Grimes to defend him on most occasions, although defensive stopper Asenso Ampim, then playing limited minutes because he was coming back from injury, came on the court to help out when Grimes found himself in foul trouble. Smith did cause Grimes trouble with his quickness, using strong drives to the basket to rack up points, a major reason why Grimes was in foul trouble. Smith finished the night with 22 points. However, coach Jones emphasizes team defense—despite a few early drives to the basket and some long 3s from Smith, the Light Blue found a way to come away with the win. Grimes himself bounced back, finishing with a double-double.

Should the Lions find a way to limit successfully Gresham’s impact on the game Saturday in Rhode Island, they should return to Morningside Heights with a winning record.