The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team fell to host Missouri, 87-36, at Mizzou Arena on Saturday night. Missouri improves to 6-3 this season, while the Knights fall to 1-10.
Junior guard Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) led three Knights in double-digits, scoring 12 points. Junior forward Kamil Svrdlik (Prerov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Zlin) was two points shy of his season-high with 11 points and junior forward John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) almost reached a double-double with 10 points and a season-high eight rebounds. Junior guard Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) had four steals and four assists.
Missouri broke out with a 12-2 lead over the first two minutes, on the strength of eight points from Kim English, including a pair of three-pointers. English scored 11 of the Tigers' first 15 points.
Svrdlik netted a three and followed it with a tip-in to make it 15-7 with just under 16 minutes left in the first half. The game became 17-9 on Grier's fast break bucket five minutes in.
The Tigers put in 13 unanswered points, holding FDU scoreless for six minutes until Svrdlik scored on a lay-up with 8:20 on the clock.
Svrdlik and Grier scored the Knights' first 14 points of the game, with 10 coming from Svrdlik.
John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) sank two from the line before driving to the basket to make it 30-18 with six minutes left to play in the half, but Missouri responded with back-to-back three-pointers from English and J.T. Tiller.
Missouri took a 45-20 lead into the break, led by 14 points from English. Svrdlik led the Knights with 10 points, while Grier finished the first 20 minutes with six points. Galvin led FDU on the boards with five rebounds, helping the Knights hold a slight edge against the Tigers, 21-20.
Mizzou shot 50 percent in the first half and made seven three-pointers, while forcing 13 turnovers by the Knights and only giving the ball up six times.
The Tigers scored the first 20 points of the second half over a stretch of eight minutes to grab a 65-20 edge over Fairleigh Dickinson.
Grier's trey with five and a half minutes remaining made it an 80-29 game. Galvin drained the first three-pointer of his career with two minutes left to play.
FDU shot just 15 percent in the second half, connecting on four field goals, to finish the game shooting 21 percent from the floor. Missouri held only a slight advantage on the boards, edging out the Knights, 46-40.
"Missouri has a great team- they have a great arena, a tremendous coach and great fans. I expect them to do very well this season," said Head Coach Greg Vetrone.
The Knights return home to host St. Peter's on Saturday, December 19 at 7:00 p.m.
