The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team (6-6) fell in the finals of the College of Charleston Holiday Classic to host Charleston, 71-67, on Saturday evening to finish as the runner up. Charleston improves to 9-6 on the season.
Andre Harris (Detroit, MI/Robichaud) was named to the All Tournament Team after registering a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Knights. He also chipped in five steals. Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) continued his breakout weekend, notching double-digits for the second-straight game with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Manny Ubilla (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) in his first start as a Knight recorded 12 points, three steals and nine rebounds. Michael Peeples (Detroit, MI/Benedictine) chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds, while Cameron Tyler (Jamaica, NY/Notre Dame Prep) dished out nine assists.
The Cougars took a 6-5 lead to start the game on the strength of four-straight points from Dontaye Draper. The Knights were able to tie it up at 8-8 on a three from Harris and took the lead on Ubilla's fast break lay up, resulting from his steal on the other end.
After a lay-in from Peeples gave FDU a one-point lead, 13-12, the Cougars went on a 14-1 run to take a double-digit lead, 27-15. The Cougars then stretched the lead, out-scoring Fairleigh Dickinson 6-2 over the next two minutes to grab a 33-17 advantage.
The Knights went on a run of their own, out-scoring Charleston, 10-2, to make it 35-25 with 1:38 remaining before the half and closed out the first frame with a 12-4 run to enter the break behind eight, 37-29.
FDU was able to hold the Cougars to only one field goal in the first 6:55 to start off the second half. Over the first seven minutes, the Knights out-scored Charleston, 16-9, getting 10 of those points from Baptiste, to climb back and make it a one-point game in the Knights' favor, 45-44.
Baptiste connected on one from behind the arc and Harris hit a pair of free throws to give the Knights their biggest lead of the half, 50-46, with 11:41 left to play.
Five points from Marcus Hammond gave the Cougars back the lead, 56-52, with just under seven minutes remaining in the game and seven points from Josh Jackson in the paint gave Charleston the 63-59 edge.
Tyler hit a jumper with 2:11 on the clock to make it 63-61, but Hammond drilled a trey from the left side for a five-point lead. Hammond took advantage of a turnover to put in a jumper and with under a minute remaining, the Knights were called for two fouls and Draper swished one free throw to give the Cougars an eight-point lead, 69-61.
Harris made a lay up and Peeples dunked to make it a four-point game with seven seconds left to play, but Draper hit two from the line to seal the win. Harris connected on a jumper as the buzzer sounded to make the final, 71-67.
The Knights out-rebounded the Cougars, 43-40. Fairleigh Dickinson converted 23 points off of turnovers while allowing only 12. FDU also had 13 second-chance points and six fast break points.
Jackson led the Cougars with 19 points, while Phillip McCandies recorded a double-double, with 10 points and 11 rebounds. David Lawrence pitched in 13 points, Draper had 11 and Hammond scored 13.
"It was definitely a hard-fought game throughout," said Head Coach Tom Green. "I told the team after the game that I really appreciated their effort. It was a tough environment and probably the stat line that stands out the most is that they shot 26 free throws and we shot 11."
"We showed some signs of really good things tonight," said Green. "If we can combine this intensity with about 12 minutes of smart play that we had in the second half, then we can be a very good team."
The Knights are back in action on January 6, when they host Wagner at 7:00 p.m.
