The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team fell to host St. John's, 92-67, on Sunday evening at Carnesecca Arena in Jamaica, NY after SJU stormed back to gain the lead in the second half.
Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) led the Knights, pouring in 19 points, going 5-for-8 from the floor in the first half. Bernell Murray (Stillwater, OK/Stillwater) added 12 points and Eric Hazard (Long Branch, NJ/St. Benedict's) and Manny Ubilla (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) each added 11 points.
The Red Storm jumped out to an 11-2 lead three and a half minutes into the contest, on the strength of seven points from Tomas Jasiulionis.
Baptiste netted a floater and converted on the free throw to make the score 13-6 with 14:48 on the clock. On the next possession, Ubilla drained a three-pointer to cut the Red Storm's lead to four, 13-9.
St. John's was able to grab an 18-9 advantage on a three from Larry Wright, but Baptiste responded with a trey of his own.
A three from Hazard brought it down a three-point game, 18-15. Ubilla inbounded the ball under the Knights' basket to Hazard, standing at the top of the arc, and he drained the three-pointer to cut it to a two-point deficit, 22-20.
Eugene Lawrence connected on a pair from the line, but Murray's long-range three-pointer gave the Knights their first lead of the game, 26-24, with 6:22 remaining in the half.
The two teams traded baskets with four ties over the next four minutes, but the Knights took a 33-31 lead on Ubilla's pull-up three-pointer. DeJuan Pursley (Leonia, NJ/Leonia) gave the Knights a 38-37 lead with a three-point play and he again gave FDU an advantage when he muscled his way to a bucket in the paint, 42-39.
Hazard hit a long-range three to give the Knights a 45-39 lead, but as the clock sounded, Lawrence netted a three on the other end to cut FDU's lead to 45-42 heading into the break.
Baptiste scored 12 points in the first 20 minutes and Hazard entered the half with 11 points. Fairleigh Dickinson shot 59 percent from the floor in the first half and 62 percent from three-point range, while holding a 15-12 edge on the boards.
FDU made it a five-point gap to start the second half off a tip-in from Baptiste, but D.J. Kennedy put in a lay-up to bring St. Johns within two, 49-47.
The Red Storm grabbed a 58-51 lead, staging an 11-2 run. Ubilla made a three from the corner and Murray netted a bucket just inside the arc to cut the score to 63-58.
But SJU scored 10 unanswered points to take a double-digit lead, 73-58, with 8:22 remaining in the game.
Baptiste's three-pointer made the score 82-65 with just under four minutes left to play, but the Red Storm went on a 10-0 run to put its largest lead of the game on the board, 92-65. Lawrence Brown (Portsmouth, England/Millersburg Military Inst.) grabbed an offensive rebound and made the bucket with eight second left to make the final score 92-67.
Seven of last St. John's last 10 points came from the charity stripe, where they were 13-for-18, while FDU went 9-for-13.
“If it was a 22 minute game, I'd be a lot happier,” said Head Coach Tom Green. “But it is a 40 minute game and we didn't play all 40 minutes”.
“Our zone defense was only effective for the first 22 minutes. It was good shot selection on St. John's part and they forced us to play man-to-man. We have to start playing better defense. You can't typically give up 92 points and win.”
FDU will open its conference season on Saturday, Dec. 8 when they travel to Brooklyn, NY to play Northeast Conference foe Long Island University at 4:00 p.m. The men's team will follow the women in a doubleheader, after the women match up against the Blackbirds at 2:00 p.m.
