Despite double-digit efforts from three players, the Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team was edged in a tight contest, falling 96-86 to Sacred Heart in its conference opener at the William H. Pitt Health and Recreation Center in Fairfield, CT on Saturday afternoon. The Knights fall to 0-6 on the season and 0-1 in the Northeast Conference, while the Pioneers improve to 3-3, including a 2-0 mark in league action.
Junior guard Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) led the Knights with 31 points, only two shy of his career high, which came at Sacred Heart on Jan. 17, 2008. Baptiste also led the Knights on the boards, pulling down eight rebounds. Junior guards Eric Moore (Dover, NJ/St. Benedict's) had 15 points and Cameron Tyler (Jamaica, NY/Notre Dame Prep (MA)) added 14 points and a game-high eight assists.
The Pioneers jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game, but the Knights showed what they are capable of with brilliant play on both ends of the court to grab the lead.
The Knights reeled off seven unanswered points, making it a 17-16 SHU lead on the strength of five-straight points from sophomore guard Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep). The Knights then took an 18-17 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the first half on Baptiste's fast break lay-up. In the first four minutes of his first start, Moore netted five points and grabbed a steal to spark Fairleigh Dickinson.
The two teams traded baskets until Sacred Heart surged ahead to take a 29-20 lead. Baptiste broke the Pioneers' 10-0 run with a three from the corner.
Baptiste converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 46 seconds on the clock, before hitting two from the line with 11 seconds remaining before the break to make it a one-point game heading into the half, 39-38.
Baptiste and Sacred Heart's Joey Henley led all scorers entering into half, each putting in 14 points in the first 20 minutes. The Knights shot 55.6 percent from the field and connected on all six of their free throw attempts. The two teams were matched evenly on the boards in the first frame, 14-14, as well as in points in the paint, 22-22.
Coming out of the half, the game saw the lead change five times in the first three minutes. FDU took a 45-43 lead when Moore found Baptiste for a trey.
Sacred Heart took a 50-46 advantage on a dunk from Ryon Howard, but Tyler sank two from the line to return it to a two-point game.
A bucket from Chauncey Hardy gave the Pioneers a six-point lead, but Tyler netted a basket and the free throw after to make it 59-56 with just under 14 minutes left to play.
SHU staged another run, out-scoring the Knights 10-3, to make it 64-56, but Baptiste again connected on a three point play. A lay-up from sophomore forward Kamil Svrdlik (Prerov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Zlin), who finished with nine points, cut Sacred Heart's lead to 67-63 with 9:28 remaining on the clock. But an 11-2 Pioneer run gave Sacred Heart its first double-digit lead in the second half.
FDU responded with a 10-2 run of its own to make it a five-point gap, 86-81. Howard scored 13 of the Pioneers' final 15 points for the game. Sacred Heart made 12 trips to the line in the final three minutes, making the final score 96-86.
Howard finished the game with 25 points. Shane Gibson added 20, Henley had 15, Corey Hassan netted 14 and Hardy finished with 12 points.
The Knights out-scored the Pioneers in the paint in the second half, 20-14. The two teams finished even on the boards, 29-29. FDU shot 52 percent from the floor and connected on 17-of-20 from the free throw line. Sacred Heart shot 56 percent from the floor and made 9-of-10 from three-point range.
Baptiste shot 11-of-19 from the floor to reach his season high, netting a season-high five three-pointers and sinking all four of his free throw attempts.
“Normally, I would think that 86 points could win a game,” said Head Coach Tom Green. “I'm glad to see our offense came out of the doldrums. We just gave up too many three point shots by Sacred Heart. To their credit, over the last couple of years, Sacred Heart has been the best outside shooting team in the league. We just didn't defend as well as we needed to win.”
“I see progress in our offense and I'm happy about putting up 86 points,” said Green. “I think that we just need to play better defensively to win games down the road.”
The Knights travel to W. Long Branch, NJ on Monday, Dec. 8 to face off against intrastate rival Monmouth in a game that will be televised on MSG at 7:30 p.m.
