The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team (0-1) opened the season at the Peterson Events Center, falling to No. 5 Pittsburgh (1-0), 86-63, on Friday evening in front of a crowd of 10,043.
Junior guard Eric Moore (Dover, NJ/St. Benedict's) led FDU in his first game as a Knight with 17 points, 13 of which came in the final frame. Sophomore forward John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) added 15 points and junior forward Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow), also in his first game as Knight, netted 13.
Pittsburgh took a 6-2 lead four minutes into the game on a jumper from Tyrell Biggs. Eight of the Panthers' first 12 points came from DeJuan Blair, who finished the game with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
A three from junior guard Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) made it 16-5 with just over 13 minutes remaining in the half. After back-to-back baskets from Galvin and a three-pointer from Baptiste, FDU came within nine, 21-12.
Junior guard Cameron Tyler (Jamaica, NY/Notre Dame Prep (MA)) sank a pair of free throws after a technical foul was called on the Pittsburgh bench to make the score 30-18 at the 5:51 mark.
With just over two minutes on the clock, Moore sank a long two-pointer to make it a 12-point gap (45-29).
The Panthers entered the half with a 45-29 lead, with Blair recording 14 points in the first 20 minutes to lead Pittsburgh, while Galvin led the Knights with eight points in the first frame.
Coming out of the half, FDU's defense stifled a Pittsburgh run, out-scored by only two points, 9-7. A long three from sophomore guard Jordan Stasyszyn (Carlisle, PA/Carlisle) followed by a layup from Galvin made it 49-34 with 17:11 remaining in the game.
The Panthers staged an offensive run, out-scoring the Knights 20-4 over the next six minutes to take a 69-38 edge.
Mofunanya and Moore sank back-to-back three-pointers and on the next possession, Moore stole the ball and was fouled on the drive, putting in both free throws to make it 70-46 with eight minutes on the clock.
The Knights went on a 12-2 run in the final two minutes of the game to make the final 86-63.
The Knights shot 92 percent from the charity stripe, 43 percent from the floor and 47 percent from beyond the arc. Pitt, the defending Big East champions, out-scored FDU 50-16 in the paint and 35-10 in points off turnovers.
Pittsburgh, which has made seven-straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, received 15 points from Sam Young and Levance Fields. Fields dished out a game-high eight assists.
"In my 25 years of coaching, I've never seen a team play man-to-man defense the way they did tonight," said Head Coach Tom Green. "My hat is off to Pitt- we had new plays that they hadn't seen before, but they still guarded the ball very well. Their interior passing was excellent and they shared the ball well."
"We were just trying to play our game and see some personal growth."
The Knights are back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 7:00 p.m. when they compete in the Legends Classic against Washington State.
