Men's Basketball 2/15/2006 12:00:00 AM

Men's Basketball Matches Up Against Sacred Heart on Thursday

The Match-up: The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team (15-8, 12-2 NEC) looks to extend its' nine-game winning streak when it visits Sacred Heart in Fairfield, CT on Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m.

This is the 11th meeting between the Knights and Pioneers, with the series tied at 5-5. In the most recent meeting between the two teams, the Knights defeated the Sacred Heart at the Rothman Center, 81-73, on Jan. 23.

In the win, the Knights were led by senior Chad Timberlake (Brooklyn, NY/New Utrecht)'s career-high 32 points. Senior Gordon Klaiber added 14 points, junior Michael Peeples chipped in 12 and sophomore Bernell Murray had 11 to round out the four starters who finished in double-digits. Junior Andrea Crosariol grabbed 12 rebounds and had five blocks.

NEC Two-time Player of the Week Timberlake's 15.3 points per game leads Fairleigh Dickinson and ranks fifth in the conference. The curent NEC Player of the Week, Klaiber, is averaging 14.8 ppg, seventh in the conference. Crosariol is adding 10.6 ppg and leads the team with 6.3 rebounds per game. He is first in the conference in both field goal percentage (62.3%) and blocks (3.00 bpg).

The Knights are 6-6 on the road this season, including a 5-2 mark in conference games away from home.

Scouting the Opponent: Sacred Heart enters the game against FDU with a 10-13 overall record, including a 7-7 mark in the NEC. They are 7-3 on their own hardwood this season, including a near perfect 5-1 against league foes.

The Pioneers are led by Kibwe Trim's 19.0 points per game and Jarrid Frye is averaging 16.2 ppg. Trim leads the squad on the boards, averaging 8.5 rebounds per game, and is shooting a team-high 61 percent from the floor. The Pioneers most recently fell at St. Francis NY, 62-58.

Sacred Heart has dropped five of its' last six games, with the lone win coming against Mount St. Mary's on Feb. 9.

Against the Conference: The Knights are 288-211 against current Northeast Conference members.

The Knights are ahead in the all-time series against all but one team in the conference (Sacred Heart, 5-5). FDU holds leads against Central Conn. (13-8), Long Island (46-37), Monmouth (30-24), Mount St. Mary's (23-13), Quinnipiac (13-5), Robert Morris (27-25), St. Francis NY (49-27), St. Francis PA (35-32) and Wagner (46-35).

Last Time Out: The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team continued its' conference success, dismissing visiting Mount St. Mary's, 69-58, at the Rothman Center on Saturday evening, 69-58. The Knights, who were led by senior forward Gordon Klaiber (Greenbelt, MD/National Christian Academy)'s 25 points, improve to 15-8 overall, with a 12-2 mark in league play, while the Mountaineers drop to 9-15, 7-6 NEC.

Klaiber was able to spark the Knights with a strong second-half performance, netting 23 of his points in the final 20 minutes. He finished with nine rebounds, just missing a double-double and hit 12-of-13 from the free throw line. Senior guard Chad Timberlake recorded 11 points and sophomore guard Bernell Murray had nine points and a game-high six assists.

Junior center Andrea Crosariol chipped in nine points, eight rebounds and six blocks, leading the Knights to an 11-0 advantage in blocked shots.

The Knights gained a 9-2 advantage to start the game, but the Mountaineers netted the next six and tied up the game at 11 on a three-pointer by Kiel Butler. Sam Aputem sank two free throws to give the Mount their first lead of the game, 13-11, with 10:26 remaining in the first half.

After the two teams traded leads, a baseline jumper by Gus Durr gave the Mountaineers a three-point lead with 4:28 left in the half. The Knights then staged an 8-3 run to end the half as Crosariol capped it with a traditional three-point play. Fairleigh Dickinson took a two-point lead into the locker room, 26-24.

The Mount held FDU scoreless for the first two minutes of the second half and was able to use a 6-0 run to take the lead, 30-26. A free throw by Durr pushed the advantage up to five, 33-28, with 16:16 remaining in the game.

But Klaiber shifted the momentum, taking a feed from Murray and connecting from behind the arc to bring the Kngihts withing two, 33-31, with just under 16 minutes left. Klaiber then made a trio of free throws after getting fouled on his next attempt from beyond the arc.

After trading baskets, Murray and Klaiber hit back-to-back three-pointers during a 13-0 run that gave the Knights their first double-digit lead of the game, 48-38, with just under 10 minutes left to play. Klaiber nailed another three to give the Knights their biggest lead of the game, 63-49, with 2:03 on the clock and Fairleigh Dickinson didn't look back, walking away with a 69-58 victory after making six free throws in the final minute of play.

Coach Green's Quotes on the Game: "Chad and Gordon are our `go-to guys'," said Head Coach Tom Green. "Gordon two completely different halves, but came out strong in the second. It's nice to put this together and win a game when you aren't shooting well."

Knights for THREE: The Knights connected on eight three-pointers against the Mount, while allowing only three of the Mount's shots from the perimeter. After shooting 30 percent from the beyond the arc in the first half, the Knights came back to make 5-of-9 in the second frame (55.6 percent).

Tracking the Knights: The game against Sacred Heart will be televised on MSG, with Tim Capstraw and Dave Popkin calling the action and Paul Dottino on the sideline.

Klaiber's Rise: Gordon Klaiber was tabbed as the Choice Hotels NEC Player of the Week,announced by the league on Monday.

Klaiber's finest week of the season coincided with Fairleigh Dickinson's push to distance itself from its competitors as the Knights went 3-0 to extend their win streak to nine and take a 2.5 game lead in the NEC standings at 12-2 in league play.

Klaiber averaged 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 1.3 blocks and shot 50.0 percent from the field, including 61.5 percent (8-13) from three-point range. He also made 22-26 from the charity stripe, an 84.6 percent success rate.

The senior forward scored 15 points and added three steals in the Knights' 93-78 victory over Robert Morris in Teaneck on Monday, then erupted for a season-high 30 points on 9-14 from the floor and 4-5 from long distance as FDU rolled past Long Island, 96-74, in Brooklyn on Thursday. To cap off the week, he tallied 23 of his 25 points in the second half and added nine boards to break open a close game and lead the Knights to a 69-58 conquest of Mount St. Mary's at the Rothman Center on Saturday.

Klaiber enters play this week as the NEC's leading active rebounder with 633, and second-leading scorer with 1,452 points. A native of Greenbelt, MD, he ranks seventh in the conference in scoring (14.8 ppg), second in blocks (1.7 bpg), fifth in steals (1.7 spg) and ninth in 3PFG% (.389).

FDU In the Lead: With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, defending league champion Fairleigh Dickinson that separated itself from the rest of the pack. With nine straight wins, the Knights have taken a 2.5 game lead over second place Monmouth in the standings with a 12-2 mark within the conference.

FDU went 3-0 last week with convincing wins over Robert Morris (93-78), Long Island (96-74) and Mount St. Mary's (69-58). The FDU "Big Three" of seniors Gordon Klaiber and Chad Timberlake, along with junior center Andrea Crosariol combined to average 53.3 ppg, 18.4 rpg, 8.0 apg and 6.0 bpg last week. They also shot a red-hot 56.7 percent (55-97) from the floor, including 65.2 percent (15-23) from three-point range.

Over the course of the nine-game streak, the Knights have outscored their opponents by an average of 12.6 ppg and shot 50.7 percent from the field in that span, while holding opponents to just 39.2 percent shooting.

League Streaks: Fairleigh Dickinson's nine-game winning streak is currently the sixth longest in NCAA Division I (see chart below) and the best for the program since winning ten in a row during the 1987-88 season. The school record for consecutive wins is 20, established in 1952-53. It also marks the longest win streak by an NEC team since CCSU claimed 19 straight victories en-route to the 2002 league crown.

Longest Current NCAA Win Streaks

1. George Washington 12 2. Bucknell 11 Connecticut 11 Gonzaga 11 Memphis 11 6. Fairleigh Dickinson 9

Streaking Knights: The Knights are looking to match the third-longest winning streak in program history in their goal of reaching 10-straight. The 1987-98 team staged a 10-game winning streak from Jan. 9- Feb. 6.

The 1952-53 season saw the longest winning streak by an FDU team, when the Knights won their first 20 games of the season. The 1953-54 team won 13 consecutive games to hold the second-longest streak.

League Leaders: The Knights lead the Northeast Conference in five categories. The Knights are first in scoring margin (+3.6), blocks (6.65 bpg), assists (15.87), assist to turnover ratio (1.09) and field goal percentage (.456).

FDU is second in scoring offense (75.1), field goal percentage defense (.409), three point field goal percentage (.377) and rebounding offense (37.1).

Starting Off Right: After recording 20 points or more in eight games last season, as well as three games with 30 or more points, Gordon Klaiber was able to score a team-high 20 points against Maryland, a top-25 team known for its pressure defense.

Klaiber notched his season-high at Long Island, pouring in 30 points on a season-high nine made field goals. The senior forward also recorded season-highs of eight free throws and four three-pointers.

Block It Out: As a team, the Knights are first in the Northeast Conference and ranked 10th in the nation with 6.65 blocks per game.

Individually, the Knights hold the top two shot blockers in the conference in junior center Andrea Crosariol (3.00 bpg; first) and senior forward Gordon Klaiber, who is averaging 1.67 bpg for second in the league. Crosariol is 16th in the nation in blocks per game.

The Knights posted a season-high 11 rejections against Robert Morris (1/28), led by Crosariol's career-high seven blocks.

In the win at Wagner, Crosariol broke his own single-season record for blocks, moving up to 57 (his previous record was 55 in 2004-05). Jonas Sinding had 64 blocks in 1997-98 for first in the single-season record books.

In the win against Sacred Heart (1/23), Crosariol and Klaiber each posted five blocks (a season-high for Klaiber) to account for all of the Knights' rejections. Crosariol notched a season-high seven blocks against Robert Morris (1/28).

Harris Provides the Spark: Junior forward Andre Harris has led the bench in the last seven games.On the season, Harris has led the reserves in 12 games and the team in two games.

Timberlake Takes Honors: Senior guard Chad Timberlake was named Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the second consecutive week.

Timberlake led the streaking Knights into first place with a pair of wins two weeks ago, averaging 21.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists. He hit 55.2 percent of his shots from the floor and 80.0 percent from the line as Fairleigh Dickinson stretched its win streak to six and improved to 9-2 in league play.

In a 78-65 win over visiting Long Island on Thursday, he tallied 17 points (8-12 FG), eight rebounds and four assists, then erupted for a game-high 25 points and snared seven boards in the Knights' 87-72 conquest of Wagner in Staten Island on Saturday.

With the score deadlocked at 35-35 at intermission, Timberlake poured in 11 of FDU's first 15 points in the second half to help the Knights slowly pull away the Seahawks.

The following week, with Timberlake providing the impetus, Fairleigh Dickinson posted a 3-0 mark to stretch its win streak to four and move into a first place tie with Central Connecticut State at 7-2 in conference play.

Timberlake averaged 23.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.7 steals and shot 53.6 percent from the field in an outstanding all-around week.

He exploded for a career-high 32 points and added five rebounds, seven assists and two steals as the Knights subdued Sacred Heart, 81-73, at the Rothman Center on Monday, then tallied 23 points and nine boards in a 66-49 win at St. Francis (PA) three days later. In a battle for first place at Robert Morris on Saturday, Timberlake capped off his week with 14 points, five rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and two steals. He scored the winning basket on a jumper in the lane with 12 seconds to play as the defending NEC champion Knights rallied from a six-point deficit in the final minute for an 84-83 victory.

Putting On a Show: The Knights' 56.1 percent from the floor (32-57) against Long Island was their highest field goal percentage of the year. The Knights had a season-low seven turnovers and took a season-low nine three-point attempts.

Fairleigh Dickinson also had three team season-highs against Robert Morris, dishing out 26 assists, grabbing 14 steals and making 38 field goals.

The Knights' previous best game-high field goal percentage, connecting on 34 of 62 attempts (54.8%), was at Robert Morris. The 11 blockswere also season-highs.

The Knights shattered several records against LIU, netting 34-of-54 attemtps from the floor for a 63 percentage. FDU made 13 three-point field goals for a new season-high in 19 attempts for a sesaon-high 68.4 percentage behind the arc.

TV Stars: The Knights have four games televised this season, with two on the MSG network in February: the Knights' game at Sacred Heart (2/16) and at Monmouth (2/20).

BracketBuster Finalized: Fairleigh Dickinson is heading to Wisconsin-Green Bay to face the Horizon League team in mid-February (date to be determined) in a matchup created out of the original pool of 100 men's basketball teams representing 18 conferences selected to participate in the BracketBusters presented by eBay.

Of the 100 teams, 26 were selected on Monday by ESPN to participate in the fourth annual BracketBusters presented by eBay -- a 13-game televised men's basketball event matching NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other on Friday, Feb. 17 and Saturday, Feb. 18. Last year's field included a potential of 64 teams representing 13 conferences (vying for 11 BracketBusters games).

For the remaining 74 teams in the "pool" that will not take part in televised games, an intra-conference home and home series was created. Wisconsin-Green Bay will visit Fairleigh Dickinson in November or December of 2006.

"We have been looking forward to finding out who we are going to play," said Head Coach Tom Green. "Todd Kowalczyk has done an excellent job of resurrecting the program and we hope it's going to be a very competitive game."

The Phoenix is currently 11-11 overall and 5-5 in the Horizon League following Monday night's 45-42 home win over Detroit. This is the first meeting between the two teams.

ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise six BracketBusters contests, ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, will televise five and ESPN360 will offer coverage of the remaining two. Game times and network assignments for the 13 matchups will be announced Tuesday, Feb. 7. This year's event will mark the first time games will be televised over two days. The first three years of BracketBusters, previously branded as Bracket Buster Saturday, featured every game on a Saturday.

The BracketBusters concept, named because of the success of teams from these conferences in NCAA Tournament play over the past years, provides participating programs with an opportunity to play top non-conference opponents approximately three weeks prior to Selection Sunday. Each conference selected their participating teams months prior to the season and the matchups for the event were determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences.

"We are thrilled at the opportunity to participate in this series," said Fairleigh Dickinson University Athletic Director David Langford. "Our team is playing very well right now and we're going to go to Wisconsin and introduce the Northeast Conference to the fans of Green Bay."

On the Boards: The Knights out-rebounded the Red Flash by their largest margin, 42-27, helping to stage a 20-5 second-half run to take a dominating lead and break the tie out of halftime.

By the Numbers: The Knights are 13-1 when leading at the half and 1-7 when trailing at the half. FDU has been able to close out the opponent in late-game situations, going 14-0 when holding a lead with 5:00 left to play.

Shifting the Records: Senior guard Chad Timberlake recorded a new career high of 32 points against Sacred Heart, while shooting a season and team high of 24 field goal attempts and making a season and team high 13.

Senior forward Gordon Klaiber had a season-high five blocks.

Defending the Arc: The Knights held the Terriers to 1-of-10 from the three-point line, including blanking them from the perimeter in the second half. The 10% is a new team-best for perimeter defense, breaking the Knights' previous low, holding Quinnipiac to 4-of-18 (22%).

Senior Standing: The game against the Mount marked the eighth time this season that the Knights' two seniors, guard Chad Timberlake and forward Gordon Klaiber, combined for more than 30 points.

The duo has joined forces for 20 or more points 14 times and are averaging a combined 30.1 ppg.

Double Down: Gordon Klaiber notched his second straight double-double and second of the season against Quinnipiac (1/12) with 18 points and a season-high 11 boards.

Against St. Francis PA on Jan. 5 , he recorded 18 points and 10 rebounds. In that game, he also matched his career-high with five assists.

Chad Timberlake led the Knights with his first double-double of the season in the win against St. Francis NY (1/20) with 15 points and a season-high 11 rebounds.

In The Crowd: FDU has faced some big opponents this season in front of large audiences. The Knights, who started the season off at the Guardians Classic at WVU Coliseum, played in front of a crowd 18,833 strong at Freedom Hall in Louisville, KY. That is the biggest stage of the season coming in before a 17,950 attendance at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland.

Next Time Up: The Knights have a busy weekend, traveling to play University of Wisconsin-Green Bay on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 8:05 p.m. in the ESPN BracketBuster game. The Knights will play in another MSG televised game on Monday at Monmouth (2/20), with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m.

Big Man on Campus: In the Knights 74-58 victory over Lousiana-Monroe, junior Andrea Crosariol logged his first double-double of the season. Crosariol's 18-point, 11-rebound performance in 34 minutes of action proved to be the difference in the game as the 7-foot, 260 lbs. center out of Albano T., Italy shot 8-14 from the floor, was a perfect 2-2 from the line and grabbed seven of his 11 boards on the offensive end. Last season, Crosariol had two double-doubles all year.

Crosariol broke his career-high as he recorded 21 points against 10th-ranked Louisville on Dec. 28 at Freedom Hall. Crosariol was 10-of-14 from the floor, with his 10 made field goals also notching a career-high.

The center put in some quality minutes under the basket, grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds in the win over Sacred Heart (1/23). The 12 boards are an individual team-high for the season as well.

Crosariol recorded his second double-double of the season at Long Island, despite playing with four fouls. He netted 10 points and grabbed 12 boards.

Get By With a Little Help: Fairleigh Dickinson's reserves dominated the opponent against Drexel as the Knights' bench out-scored Drexel, 23-3.

The bench provided 42 points against Dowling and was the team's second-straight game with 40 or more points coming off the bench.

Defensive Efforts: The Knights turned the ball over a then-season-low eight times against Mount St. Mary's, with only one of those turnovers being charged to a guard. Cameron Tyler dished out five assists in his 26 minutes without relinquishing the ball once.

The Knights then set a new season-low, coughing up the ball only seven times at Wagner.

Harris Takes Control: Junior forward Andre Harris had a career-night on Dec. 10, leading the Knights' to their second conference win against Mount St. Mary's. He notched a double-double with a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. It was the first 20-point game of his career.

Timberlake Joins the Ranks of the Elite: Senior guard Chad Timberlake notched 11 points in the loss at Seton Hall on Dec. 5 and in doing so recorded his 1,000th point as a Knight.

The NEC tipped off the 2005-06 season with two returning players already ensconced in the 1,000-point club (Landy Thompson, Mt. St. Mary's; Gordon Klaiber, FDU). A total of four NEC players reached the 1,000-point plateau last year to raise membership to 122 since the league began sponsoring basketball in 1981.

D-Fense!: The Knights had more steals than Seton Hall (8-6), fewer turnovers (11-18) and more assists (12-10).

Welcome Back: Of the top-10 scorers in the NEC thus far in 2005-06, only two - Long Island senior James Williams and FDU senior forward Gordon Klaiber - finished in the top-10 a year ago.

Klaiber On the Move: A two-time first team all-NEC selection, Fairleigh Dickinson senior forward Gordon Klaiber will look to put a stamp on his career in 2005-06 as he attempts to lead the Knights to back-to-back conference championships. He entered the season as the NEC's leading active rebounder and second-leading scorer.

He is just the ninth player in FDU history to amass 1,000 points and 500 rebounds and is on pace to become just the 23rd player in NEC annals to reach 1,500 points and 500 rebounds and ninth player to hit 1,500 points and 750 rebounds.

Murray Steps Up: Sophomore guard Bernell Murray recorded the second and third blocks of his career against St. Francis NY on Jan. 20. The two blocks in a game were a career-high.

Murray scored eight of his ten points in the second overtime period to lead the Knights to victory against Canisius. He scored eight of the Knights' 11 points in the last five minutes, netting two free throws before sinking back-to-back three-pointers.

Career Production: Junior forward Michael Peeples had an outstanding night at Canisius, notching a career-high 18 points on a career-high seven made field goals. He tied his career-highs of two blocks, four assists and two three-point field goals.

In the Extra Period: The Knights' double-overtime victory against Canisius was their first game with extra periods this season. They are now 1-0 in games that go into extra time and averaged 7.5 points per extra frame.

Running Away With It: The 46-point win against Dowling was the Knights' largest margin of victory since defeating Hunter, 109-49, on February 22, 1964.

Clearing the Glass: Junior forward Andre Harris entered the half against Dowling with 10 rebounds, breaking his previous career-high of nine and finishing the game with a team-high 11 total boards.

Team Effort: All 11 players that dressed for the game against Dowling put points on the board. Nine Knights had scored going into the half and five players notched double-digit points.

He's Honored: Freshman Cameron Tyler was named the Northeast Conference Choice Hotels NEC Rookie of the Week on Nov. 21.

The six-foot freshman guard came off the bench to score 17 points on 7-13 shooting from the floor, to go along with three rebounds and a game-high six assists in 36 minutes of work.

Taking Charity: In his first seven games, freshman guard Cameron Tyler was sent to the charity stripe 44 times, hitting 36 of those for an 81.8 percentage.

Jordan Ingram has connected on 11 of his 14 attempts from the free throw line for a team-leading 78.6 percent. Eric Hazard has hit six in seven attempts from the stripe for an 85.7 percentage.

FDU Chosen to Participate in ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday: Fairleigh Dickinson has been chosen to represent the Northeast Conference in the fourth annual ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday on February 18, 2006. It marks the first time an NEC institution has been tabbed to participate in the event, which pits potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other three weeks prior to Selection Sunday and will feature 11 nationally televised games selected from an expanded pool of 100 teams representing 18 conferences.

"We're proud to have Fairleigh Dickinson represent the NEC in this year's Bracket Buster field," said John Iamarino, NEC Commissioner. "FDU's strong effort vs. Illinois in the NCAA Tournament is a good example of how the Knights have historically played well against good non-conference competition."

Fairleigh Dickinson, the defending NEC champion, will play on the road, but will not learn of its opponent until late January, approximately three weeks prior to the event. As part of the agreement, all 11 of the Bracket Buster Saturday home teams, as well as the remaining 39 home squads competing in non-televised contests, will play a "return" game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of the following season.

The Bracket Buster has expanded each of the last three years, with 18 teams participating in the inaugural 2003 event, 46 in 2004 and 64 in 2005. The selection of the 11 games to be televised will be made by ESPN, in consultation with commissioners of the participating conferences.

Fairleigh Dickinson captured its fourth NEC title in 2005, all of which have come under 23rd year head coach Tom Green, the winningest coach in NEC regular season and postseason history.

In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Knights played top-seed and eventual national runner-up Illinois to a first-half standstill, gaining instant recognition before a nationwide audience in a 12-point defeat.

Collegehoops.net Predicts: The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team has been projected to win the 2005-06 Northeast Conference (NEC) championship by Collegehoops.net and is listed at No. 142 in their top 144 teams in 144 days college basketball preview. Collegehoops.net is a leading independent college basketball website.

NEC Preseason Poll: With three returning starters, including two preseason all-NEC picks, defending tournament champion Fairleigh Dickinson has been chosen as the 2005-06 NEC men's basketball preseason favorite, according to a vote of the league's head coaches. The preseason rankings, along with the league's preseason all-conference team, were announced during a media teleconference with coaches on Wednesday as a prelude to the NEC's 25th anniversary season.

Looking to become the first league team since Rider in 1993 and 1994 to repeat as NEC champion, Fairleigh Dickinson earned nine of a possible ten first place votes from league head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own team.

Monmouth, last year's NEC regular season champion, finished tied for second in the poll with Wagner, which reached the 2005 NEC title game. The Seahawks received one first place vote, as did Long Island, which was picked fourth. Central Connecticut State and St. Francis (NY) finished tied for fifth in the poll, followed by Quinnipiac, Mount St. Mary's, St. Francis (PA), Robert Morris and Sacred Heart.

This marks the first time in 12 years and the third time in school history that Fairleigh Dickinson has been selected the NEC's preseason favorite by league head coaches.

Under the tutelage of 23rd year head coach Tom Green, the Fairleigh Dickinson program has captured four NEC championships, and has performed admirably in subsequent NCAA Tournament appearances on each occasion. Last March, the Knights trailed top-seeded Illinois by a single point at halftime before eventually succumbing, 67-55.

The Knights captured the 2005 NEC Tournament championship and earned the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1998. After finishing the regular season in second place, Fairleigh Dickinson defeated St. Francis NY (78-60), Long Island (70-62) and Wagner (58-52), all at home, to win the league crown.

Preseason Predictions: Five leading college basketball publications have selected the Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team as the favorite to win the 2006 Northeast Conference title and return to the NCAA Tournament. Additionally, all five have tabbed senior forward Gordon Klaiber as the Preseason Player of the Year while two other Knights earned preseason all-conference honors.

The Knights were selected to capture first place in the Northeast Conference in Sporting News College Basketball preview. Sporting News also picked Klaiber to the Preseason All-Conference First Team and Player of the Year.

Fairleigh Dickinson was picked for a first-place finish in Athlon Sports and Street & Smith's College Basketball previews as well. In Street and Smith's forecast, Klaiber was selected to the All-NEC team and was tabbed as the top player in the conference. Athlon picked both Klaiber and senior guard Chad Timberlake to the All-Conference First Team and projected Klaiber to earn Player of the Year honors.

In the conference breakdown done by CBS Sportsline.com, FDU was chosen to finish at the top of the NEC. In the preseason picks, Timberlake and Klaiber were slotted in the first team, while Klaiber was tabbed as the Player of the Year.

In Lindy's Basketball preview, Fairleigh Dickinson was predicted to take first place in the conference and both Klaiber and Timberlake were selected to the All-Conference First Teams. Junior center Andrea Crosariol was honored with a second team prediction. Timberlake was given the superlative of "Most Versatile" in the magazine's honor roll and Klaiber was selected as the "Best NBA Prospect".

Knights in the NCAA Tournament: In their three previous trips to the NCAA Tournament (1985, 1988, 1998), all under current Head Coach Tom Green, the Knights have given each of their first round opponents a scare, but fell short.

NCAA Tournament History 2005 #1 Illinois 67, #16 FDU55 1998#2 UConn 93, #15 FDU 85 1988#1 Purdue 94, #16 FDU 79 1985#1 Michigan 59, #16 FDU 55

Knights for 20: The NEC Tournament Championship game victory over Wagner (3/9) gave the Knights their 20th win of 2004-05 Fairleigh Dickinson has reached the 20-win mark seven times, six times under current Head Coach Tom Green. The last time the Knights had won 20 was in 1997-98 when they finished 23-7 and made their last NCAA Tournament appearance.

Climbing the Ladder: Gordon Klaiber now has 138 blocks during his career, for fourth place all-time at FDU. He is only the fourth player in program history to reach 1000 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks. Andrea Crosariol has already cracked the top 10 all time and has passed Klaiber with 147 blocks, needing only three blocks to break the record.

Career Blocks 1. Damari Riddick `88 149 2. Andrea Crosariol `07 147 Rahshon Turner `98 144 4. Gordon Klaiber `06 138

Klaiber for Three: With 145 career three-pointers, Gordon Klaiber has cracked the top five all-time at FDU in that category, leaping into fourth all-time.

Career Three-Pointers Made 1. Brad McClain `92 187 2. Lionel Bomayako 159 3. Jermaine Slider `98 155 4. Gordon Klaiber `06 145

Pick-Pocket: Chad Timberlake now has 140 career steals, moving him into a tie for third place all-time at FDU. Next up to pass is Desi Wilson (`91), who has 177.

Career Steals 1. Dan Rosen `66 271 2. Desi Wilson `91 177 3. Mel Hawkins `91 141 Elijah Allen `98 141 Chad Timberlake 141

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