Jamaal Womack had 24 points to lead the St. Francis NY Terriers past the Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team on Saturday evening, 73-62. The Terriers improve to 7-14 on the season, including a 5-6 mark in Northeast Conference action, while the Knights fall to 4-17 overall, with a 4-7 record in league play.
Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow) (Englewood, NJ) led the Knights with 18 points, while Cameron Tyler (Jamaica, NY/Notre Dame Prep (MA)) (Jamaica, NY) added 14 points and five assists. Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) (North Brunswick, NJ) led the team on the boards with 10 rebounds and just missed a double-double with nine points.
Back-to-back baskets from Mofunanya gave the Knights a 7-5 lead five and a half minutes into the game. Ricky Cadell connected on a three-pointer from the right corner to give the Terriers an 11-7 lead, but Mofunanya found John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) (Weston, CT) under the basket for a lay-in and Baptiste connected on one from the line to make it a one-point game.
Mofunanya sank two from the charity stripe, cutting St. Francis' lead down to two, 16-14, but the Terriers pulled away, staging an 18-5 run, capped by a trey from Rocco Rubino, to take a 34-19 lead.
Kamil Svrdlik (Prerov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Zlin) (Prerov, Czech Republic) connected on an old-fashioned three-point play to shrink the Terriers' lead to 34-22 with 2:23 on the clock.
A block by Svrdlik led to a fast break for the Knights, which Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) (Cranford, NJ) converted into a bucket with just over a minute remaining in the first half. Grier connected on the second of two shots from the free throw line to make it 36-25, but Cadell quickly netted two points on the other end. Eric Moore (Dover, NJ/St. Benedict's) (Dover, NJ) fed Mofunanya, who sank a jumper with two seconds on the clock to send the teams into the break with a 38-27 St. Francis NY edge.
Cadell led all scorers in the first frame with 13 points. Mofunanya led the Knights with nine points, while Grier and Baptiste each added five in the first 20 minutes. The Knights shot 50 percent, taking only 18 shots, while the Terriers shot 52 percent (14-27).
St. Francis NY held an advantage on the boards, 17-9, as the Knights pulled down only one offensive board. The Terriers connected on seven three-pointers in the first half.
The Terriers opened the second half with back-to-back buckets, but the Knights scored the next five points as Tyler drove to the basket for a lay-in before stealing the ball on the next possession and feeding Baptiste to cut the game to 43-32. But the Terriers went on a 9-1 run to add to their lead.
FDU responded as four points apiece from Tyler and Mofunanya helped FDU stage a 10-0 run. The run was capped as Baptiste grabbed a defensive rebound and Tyler found Moore under the basket to cut St. Francis' lead to 52-43, with 10 minutes remaining.
After a three-pointer from Stefan Perunicic gave the Terriers a 14-point edge, Sam Fernley (Sheffield, England/Silverdale) (Sheffield, England), sank a three to make it 57-48, with just under seven minutes left to play.
St. Francis NY scored eight unanswered points, capped by back-to-back treys from Womack for the 67-50 lead with under four minutes on the clock.
FDU was able to out-score the Terriers, 10-4 over the next two minutes, but it wasn't enough as St. Francis took the 73-62 win. In the second half, FDU out-scored the Terriers 22-14 in the paint and the Knights' bench out-scored SFNY, 19-2.
The Knights out-shot St. Francis (47-46 percent), but the Terriers held an edge on the boards, 36-29. St. Francis had 17 second-chance points against only one for FDU.
Caddell added 19 for the Terriers and Perunicic finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
“We took yesterday to prepare for today's game and while it was a light practice physically, we mentally spent a lot of time getting to know St. Francis' plays,” said Head Coach Tom Green. “They came in and executed a good game plan. They slowed us down.”
“At halftime we were down 11 points, we dug ourselves a little hole. We got our running game going in the second half, but they just hit too many open three-pointers. This is a tough loss based on where we are at and the fact that we were tied with them in the conference coming into the game. Our free throw shooting was the biggest problem tonight. You can't miss 14 at home and expect to win too many games.”
The Knights will take a break from conference action when they host Lafayette on Feb. 2 at 7:00 p.m.
