Feb. 27, 2006

Box Score

HACKENSACK, NJ - In an emotionally charged game right from tip-off, the Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team clinched the regular season title for the first time since the 1990-91 season with a 79-62 victory against visiting Monmouth, and with it, home court advantage in the Northeast Conference Tournament. The Knights improve to 18-10 overall and finish the season 14-4 in conference play, while Monmouth drops to 12-6 in league action and 15-14 overall.

The eight-team NEC Tournament will be conducted for a second consecutive year in playoff format with all games being played at the home of the higher seed. After the quarterfinals, the teams will be re-seeded so the highest remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals. Fairleigh Dickinson holds a 9-3 record in tournament games on their own hardwood.

Four of the Knights' five starters notched double-digits to lead the team in the showdown for first place, with junior Andrea Crosariol (Abano T., Italy) matching his career-high with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Seniors Chad Timberlake (Brooklyn, NY) and Gordon Klaiber (Greenbelt, MD), both notched double-doubles and Timberlake recorded 17 points and 10 rebounds and Klaiber gave FDU 16 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Michael Peeples (Detroit, MI) added 17 points.

Klaiber sank a pair of free throws to break a 6-6 tie three and a half minutes into the game. On the next possession, Timberlake found Peeples for a three-pointer that put the Knights ahead, 11-6.

The Knights went on the offensive, blanking the Hawks over the next two minutes with eight straight points, sparking a run that was capped by a long trey from Murray to take a 21-12 lead.

The Hawks answered, climbing back into the game with an 8-3 streak, chipping the Knights' advantage down to four, 24-20, on a Tyler Azzarelli three.

Klaiber's put-back at the 7:30 mark pulled Fairleigh Dickinson ahead, matching their biggest lead of the half, 29-20.

Marques Alston gave the Hawks four-points in a 10-2 run that was finished off with a three from Whitney Coleman, bringing them back into the game.

With the Hawks within one, 31-30, with 3:44 remaining in the half, Peeples blocked what would have given the Hawks their first lead since the 18 minute mark and Klaiber connected from three-point range to widen the gap, 34-30.

Monmouth tied it up at 34-34 on layup from Mike Shipman with just under a minute until the break, but Dejan Delic hit one of his trio of first-half three's to put the Hawks ahead after the first 20 minutes as Monmouth entered their locker room with a 37-34 lead.

The two teams entered the half tied on the boards, 16-16, but the Knights held the edge with 11 second-chance points, holding the Hawks to just two.

FDU out-scored the Hawks 10-2 to start the half and turned it into an eight-point lead as Peeples drained a big three with just under 11 minutes left in regulation, after sophomore Bernell Murray (Stillwater, OK) found him alone behind the arc.

Crosariol slammed in a patented energetic dunk to charge up the Knights along with the crowd of 3,024, the largest home crowd the Knights have hosted this season, giving FDU a double-digit lead, 55-45, with 7:08 left to play.

Azzarelli scored back-to-back layups to bring it back down to single-digits, but Crosariol converted a three-point play on the next possession and Peeples recovered a steal that Crosariol netted from under the basket for the 60-49 edge with 4:44 remaining.

The Knights sealed the game as they overpowered the Hawks with a late second-half surge, out-scoring Monmouth, 14-6 over the next three minutes, capped with an exclamation point on Timberlake's emphatic dunk from Murray with 1:42 on the clock.

They held their biggest lead of the game, 79-59, as time wound down and Tyson Johnson hit a three-pointer with 14 seconds on the clock to make the final 79-62.

The Knights out-rebounded the Hawks, 43-25 and finished the game with 22 second-chance points, allowing Monmouth only two.

"This means an awful lot to the program," said Head Coach Tom Green. "This is huge for the team, securing home court advantage and at the very worst earning a right to play in the postseason at the NIT."

"We play all the regular season for this title and after being a little off balance last week with losses to Monmouth and Wagner, it's big to come back and win. I thought our defense and free throw shooting were really the turning points. They were 6-for-12 from three-point range in the first half and we talked about limiting them in the second, when we were able to hold them 3-for-8."

The Knights will host #8 seeded Quinnipiac at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 2, and will be webcast on WFDU. The other quarterfinal games are as follows:

#7 Sacred Heart at #2 Central Connecticut State
#6 Long Island at #3 Monmouth
#5 Robert Morris at #4 Mount St. Mary's

All game times are 7:00 p.m.