Despite a career-high 34 points from senior Manny Ubilla (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) and a double-double from sophomore Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen), the Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team fell in its Northeast Conference opener at Long Island University, 90-77, on Saturday afternoon.

The Knights fall to 1-5 on the season and 0-1 in NEC play while the Blackbirds improve to 5-3 with a 1-1 mark in conference action.

The Blackbirds began the game with an 11-3 lead.  The Knights received back-to-back buckets from senior Bernell Murray (Stillwater, OK/Stillwater) and Baptiste to make the score 11-7 and a three from Murray made it a 13-10 game. But LIU staged a 9-0 run to grab a 22-10 edge.

Ubilla scored the Knights' next nine points to make it 27-19 with nine minutes remaining in the half.

FDU was able to cut it to a seven-point deficit, 28-21, on Baptiste's lay-in with seven minutes on the clock. Ubilla, who scored 22 points in the first frame, connected on a trio of free throws from the line followed by a trey from the corner to bring the Knights within two, 34-32.

Baptiste knotted the game, 34-34, and the Knights took their first lead of the game, 36-35, at the 3:39 mark on a lay-up from sophomore Lawrence Brown (Portsmouth, England/Millersburg Military Inst.).

The two teams traded baskets until the Knights scored five unanswered points on a basket from Ubilla and an old-fashioned three-point play from Baptiste to give the Knights their largest lead of the game, 43-37.

Fairleigh Dickinson went into the half with a 43-41 advantage after Jaytornah Wisseh netted one from behind the arc with 40 seconds on the clock.  The Knights had 12 second chance points, holding LIU to only four in the first half.

After shooting 52 percent in the first half, the Knights were only able to connect with 34 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes.

Baptiste found freshman John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) under the basket and Ubilla converted a steal into a lay-up to give the Knights a 47-44 lead.

Kellen Allen's three-point play and a three from Tyrone Mattison gave LIU the 53-49 advantage. Galvin connected on a basket in the paint and the free throw after to bring the Knights within one, 53-52, and FDU regained the lead on a pair from the charity stripe from Baptiste.

The Blackbirds staged a 16-4 run to take a 69-58 lead over the Knights with 8:21 remaining in the game and were able to maintain the double-digit advantage for the remainder of the game.

Baptiste finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds. LIU received 41 points from its bench while the Knights had only nine. FDU held an edge on the boards, out-rebounding Long Island, 39-36. Ubilla was 13-of-15 from the line and the Knights shot 20-for-26 overall.

Ubilla broke his career-high of 25 points for the first time this season against Lafayette, then set a new high with 28 points against Rider before shattering his career-high for third time versus the Blackbirds.

"We've had 10 practices in the last 12 days and I'm very disappointed in the lack of improvement," said Head Coach Tom Green. "I thought that we would be better defensively than what we showed."

"The best thing is that we are going to play again in 48 hours and the worst thing is that we are going to play again in 48 hours. We are just going to regroup and go back to the drawing board," said Green.

The Knights open the season at home when they host Norfolk State on Monday, Dec. 10 at 7:00 p.m.