The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team fell to visiting Long Island, 85-67, in its final regular season home game on Thursday night. The Knights fall to 7-22 overall, with a 6-11 mark in Northeast Conference action while the Blackbirds improve to 15-13 on the season and an 11-6 record in league play.
Sam Fernley (Sheffield, England/Silverdale) (Sheffield, England) recorded a new season-high, leading the Knights with 17 points. Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow) (Englewood,NJ) had 13 points, connecting on 5-of-7 from the floor and Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) (Cranford, NJ) chipped in 11 points. Cameron Tyler (Jamaica, NY/Notre Dame Prep (MA)) (Jamaica, NY) notched his second double-digit assist game, recording a double-double for the game with 11 points and 10 assists. John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) (Weston, CT) led the Knights on the boards with nine rebounds.
Fairleigh Dickinson took a 9-2 lead to start the game on a trio of three-pointers from Grier, Kamil Svrdlik (Prerov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Zlin) (Prerov, Czech Republic) and Mofunanya.
But Long Island reeled off six unanswered points to make it a one-point game, 9-8. The Blackbirds took their first lead of the game, 14-12, on a three-pointer from Jaytornah Wisseh (Brooklyn, NY) with 14 minutes remaining in the first half. A 10-2 run by LIU gave the Blackbirds a double-digit gap, 24-21.
But Fernley sank a three pointer to cut the Blackbirds' lead, 29-22 with 5:41 on the clock.
Mofunanya's block led to a fast break basket with Tyler feeding Grier and on the next possession, Grier's steal led to a bucket from the same combination, making it 34-26 with just over four minutes left to play in the first frame.
Fernley sank a three from the corner to send the Knights into the half down nine, 44-35. Mofunanya led the Knights with 11 points in the first 20 minutes, while Wisseh led all scorers with 21 points, connecting on 4-of-4 from three-point range. Fairleigh Dickinson shot 50 percent from the floor (13-26) and the Blackbirds shot 56 percent (18-32). Each team had six treys in the first frame and Long Island held the edge on the boards, 18-10.
LIU out-scored the Knights 18-8 over the first eight minutes of the second half to take a 62-43 advantage and Galvin muscled his way to the hoop, making it 67-50 with 10 and a half minutes left in the game.
Tyler fed Fernley for a three-pointer with 6:42 remaining in regulation to shrink the Blackbirds' lead to 77-62, but that is as close as the Knights would get.
“They went on a quick run in the first half that had a negative effect on us as a team,” said Head Coach Tom Green. “I wasn't all that unhappy down nine at the half. If we played tighter defense and scored a little in the second we would have been okay.”
Long Island held a slight edge on the boards (37-33) and out-shot the Knights (53-44 percent). The two teams each had 34 points in the half. The Blackbirds shot 61 percent from the line, connecting on 17-of-28 free throws, while Knights sank four of their seven attempts.
Fernley sank five three-pointers and dished out four assists. Wisseh finished with 25 points, only four coming in the second half, and Kyle Johnson (Ajax, Ontario) had 22 points.
The Knights are back in action at Saint Francis PA on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 7:00 p.m. in the final game of the regular season.
Prior to tipoff, Michael Blackgrove (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley) (River Vale, NJ), who will be graduating in communications, was honored along with Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) (North Brunswick, NJ), who reached 1,000 points for his career on Feb. 12 at Central Conn.
