The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team fell to visiting Mount St. Mary's, 78-61, on Thursday evening at the Stratis Arena. The Knights fall to 7-16 overall, with a 3-10 record in Northeast Conference play, while the Mountaineers improve to 12-13, including an 8-6 mark in league action.
Manny Ubilla (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) (Freehold, NJ) led the Knights with 20 points, dishing out four assists and grabbing five steals. Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) (North Brunswick, NJ) added 13 points. Eric Hazard (Long Branch, NJ/St. Benedict's) (Long Branch, NJ) chipped in eight points and led the Knights on the boards with six rebounds.
The Knights started the game fighting to a 7-6 lead on Bernell Murray (Stillwater, OK/Stillwater)'s (Stillwater, OK) three-pointer and Baptiste converted an old-fashioned three-point play to put FDU ahead, 12-10 with 12:48 left in the first half.
The Mount staged a 12-0 run, with 10 points coming from Shawn Atupem (Newport News, VA), to take a 22-12 advantage with just under nine and a half minutes until the half.
After the Mountaineers took a 24-14 advantage on a jumper by Jean Cajou (Fairfax, VA), Ubilla netted a bucket and Baptiste sank a free throw to cut the gap to seven. But Jason Loughry (Odenton, MD) and Atupem each connected on a pair from the line to push the Mountaineers' lead back to double-digits.
A reverse lay up from Ron Brown II (Bronx, NY) cut the Mount's advantage to 30-21 with less than two minutes remaining in the first frame, but Chris Vann (Woodbridge, VA) sank a pair of treys on the other end and Kelly Beidler (Virginia Beach, VA) netted a shot at the buzzer to give Mount St. Mary's its largest of the first frame, 38-23, entering the half.
Ubilla led the Knights at the half, recording 10 points, while Atupem led all scorers with 12 points. In the first 20 minutes, FDU was out-rebounded 27-14, and the Mount held a 52 shooting percentage to Fairleigh Dickinson's 28 percent.
Two minutes into the second half, a lay up from Lawrence Brown (Portsmouth, England) made it a 38-27 game. The Mount staged an 11-4 run, with eight points from Vann, to grab hold of a 49-29 advantage with 16 minutes remaining.
FDU out-scored the Mountaineers over the next three minutes to trim the deficit, 53-38, with just over 12 minutes left in the game. But 19-3 run over the next seven minutes by the Mount pushed its lead to 72-41 with six minutes on the clock.
The momentum turned as the Knights staged a 20-2 run over the next five minutes, but it wasn't enough as Mount St. Mary's scored the last four points to make the final score 78-61. Over the course of the run, Baptiste sank eight points and Ubilla and Brian Lytle (Union, NJ/St. Marks) (Union, NJ) pitched in five apiece.
Mount St. Mary's out-rebounded FDU, 50-28, and its bench out-scored the Knights, 38-11. Brown swatted three blocks.
Vann led the Mount with 20 points and Atupem finished with 17. Beidler led the team on the boards with 12 rebounds.
The Knights shot 41 percent in the second half and MSM shot 48. FDU shot 3-of-21 from three-point range.
“We were down a post player, which made it very difficult,” said Head Coach Tom Green. “They defended us very well; they really picked it up a notch. They had a very good defensive effort on Manny Ubilla (Freehold, NJ/Freehold).”
“It was a combination of us coming out flat and a credit to the Mount's defense. At half time, I told the guys at half time that their bench had 24 points and we have to defend everyone well. We hurt ourselves by letting their big guys get going underneath the basket.”
The Knights will host Monmouth on Monday, February 18, at 7:30 p.m., following the women's game versus the Hawks at 5:00 p.m. Both games will be televised on FSN-NY and will decide the winner of the newly created Garden State Rivalry Series (the series is currently tied 1-1). Coach Green will also be going for his 400th victory.
Monday will also be promoting the WBCA's Think Pink Campaign. The "Think Pink" initiative represents a unified effort for WBCA coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses and in communities. All ticket proceeds from the both games will be donated to the Gilda's Club in Hackensack, NJ (http://www.gildasclubnnj.org/). As of Feb. 13, the program ? which officially began Feb. 8 ? has raised over $81,000 across the country.
