Men's Basketball 11/24/2009 1:00:00 AM

Men's Basketball Falls to Eastern Kentucky, 68-39

The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team continued competition at the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic, falling to host Eastern Kentucky, 68-39, at McBrayer Arena in Richmond, KY on Monday night. The Knights fall to 1-3 on the season, while the Colonels improve to 2-1. Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow) led FDU with 14 points and seven rebounds, while Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) added eight points. Anaclet Mulumba (Montreal, Canada/Vanier College) and DeJuan Pursley (Leonia, NJ/Leonia) each added six rebounds. Eastern Kentucky forced 18 turnovers, shooting 44 percent from the floor and sinking 14 three-pointers.   The Colonels opened the game with a 10-0 run over the first six minutes, but the Knights' were able to cut the lead to six (18-12) with eight minutes remaining in the half on back-to-back three-pointers from Scott. Eastern Kentucky went on a 16-2 to reclaim a double-digit lead, 34-14. EKU took a 40-19 advantage into the half, led by 12 points from Josh Daniel, including a trio of treys. Mofunanya, who poured in a career-high 22 points in the Knights' last tilt, a win against Central Michigan, led FDU in the first half with eight points. The Knights came out strong to start the second half, out-scoring the Colonels in the first four minutes to cut the gap to 43-25. But after Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) fed Mofunanya for a dunk, Eastern Kentucky scored 16 unanswered points, holding FDU scoreless for over seven minutes. Mofunanya broke the draught with another dunk with five minutes remaining. In the final three and a half minutes, Mulumba and Sam Fernley (Sheffield, England/Silverdale) each connected on a pair from the free throw line; Louis Larizza (Port Chester, NY/Port Chester) found Mulumba for the final field goal of the game. The Knights held a 37-31 edge on the boards and also posted a 24-22 edge in points in the paint. EKU dominated points off turnovers (20-4) and bench points (28-5). Daniel finished with 14 points, scoring only two in the second half. Josh Taylor recorded 13 points and five assists. Justin Stommes and Daniel each had five rebounds. "We played a good team; give them all the credit," said Head Coach Greg Vetrone. "We are going to work on getting guys healthy and rested. We will regroup so that tomorrow we can come out and execute our offense and that will help us moving forward. Our defense is still strong; we only gave up 28 points in the second half, we just have to execute on the other end." The Knights will continue competition in the CBE Classic on Tuesday, when they play UTSA at 8pm and UC- Irvine at 8pm on Wednesday.

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