The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team fell in a tight game to visiting Quinnipiac, 64-63, at the Rothman Center on Thursday night. The Knights fall to 9-9 overall with a 4-3 mark in Northeast Conference play, while the Bobcats improve to 7-10 and 5-3 record in league action.
Manny Ubilla (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) (Freehold, NJ) converted a three-point play four minutes into the game to tie up the game 6-6. After four ties in the first seven and a half minutes, the Bobcats took a 16-11 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half.
The Knights went on a 9-0 run, sparked by four points from Bernell Murray (Stillwater, OK) and capped with an Andre Harris (Detroit, MI/Robichaud) (Detroit, MI) jumper, followed by a steal from Ubilla that resulted in an old-fashioned three-point play from Eric Hazard (Long Branch, NJ) to put the Knights up, 20-16.
DeMario Anderson put in a lay-up and a minute later tied the game at 20 when he connected on two from the line. The Knights took a four-point lead, 26-22, after Harris put in a jumper and then sank two free throws. Back-to-back jumpers by Casey Cosgrove and Karl Anderson knotted the score for the seventh time in the first 20 minutes.
A lay-up from Adam Gonzalez with under a minute remaining gave the Bobcats a 28-26 edge heading into the break. Harris entered the half with 11 points to continue his streak of 18-straight games in double-digit figures.
A three-pointer by Chris Wehye pushed the Quinnipiac advantage up, 33-26. After Weyhe connected on a lay-up for a 39-31 lead, the Knights staged a 10-2 run, capped by a Tyler lay-up to tie up the game, 41-41, with 12:17 remaining.
Harris netted one from just inside the arc on a pass from Tyler to make it 41-37 and after a Hazard block, the Knights got the ball back and Peeples sank a jumper from Tyler. At half court, Peeples stole a pass and dished it out- he then tipped in the rebound in to tie up the game 41-41.
Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) (North Brunswick, NJ) netted a bucket from underneath the basket off a pass from Ubilla to tie up the game again. The Knights' defense then forced the ball out underneath Quinnipiac's basket and Baptiste regained the lead for the Knights, 48-47, with 8:06 on the clock, their first since the 1:25 mark in the first half.
Murray hit one from long-range with six minutes remaining to tie the score, 51-51, but Wehye connected on four free throws in the next minute to take a four-point lead, 55-51.
Michael Peeples (Detroit, MI/Benedictine) (Detroit, MI) had a put-back followed by a Harris dunk to take the lead 57-55. Tyler took the ball underneath and tied up the game with a reverse lay-up, 63-63, for the tenth time in 20 minutes, with 38.7 seconds on the clock.
Gonzalez made the second of two shots from the line with 8.7 seconds left in regulation to give Quinnipiac a 64-63 edge. The Knights had two chances under the basket, but didn't connect on either.
Harris finished the game with 21 points and nine rebounds and Tyler added 15 points, four assists and six boards.
DeMario Anderson led the Bobcats with 17 points and Karl Anderson went 6-for-7 to give the Bobcats 15 points. Wehye contributed 11 points and Victor Akinyanju recorded 10.
“We had two very good opportunities at the basket [at the end of the game], but they didn't fall,” said Head Coach Tom Green. “You can't really ask for more than that.”
“Quinnipiac was very well-coached and they always play hard,” said Green. “We knew that transition defense was going to be huge coming into this game. I thought our transition defense was good for 30 minutes, but unfortunately for 10 minutes or so, they got opportunities that I was disappointed with.”
The Knights shot 32 percent from the field, and were able to hold Quinnipiac to 9 percent from the three-point line. Ubilla grabbed four steals and Harris had two blocks.
The Knights are back in action on Saturday, January 27 in Emmitsburg, MD when they face Mount St. Mary's at 7:00 p.m.
