Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) sent up a three at the buzzer that fell in after rolling around the rim to give the Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team a thrilling overtime victory at Wagner, 59-57, on Thursday evening. The Knights (6-17, 5-7 NEC), who led by as many as 16 in the second half, suffered a comeback by Wagner (10-12, 3-9 NEC) but were able to score 10 points in overtime to seal the win.
Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) led the team with a double-double, scoring 13 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Eric Moore (Dover, NJ/St. Benedict's) and Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow) each had 13 points. Mofunanya grabbed eight rebounds and Cameron Tyler (Jamaica, NY/Notre Dame Prep (MA)) dished out eight assists.
The Knights took an early lead, 6-2, on back-to-back shots from behind the arc by Grier and Baptiste, but the Seahawks out-scored the Knights 6-2 over the next four minutes to knot the game at 8-8.
After two ties, the Knights pulled ahead on the strength of five-straight, pulling out to a 15-10 lead. Moore converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give FDU the 18-12 advantage, but the Seahawks put in five-straight of their own to make it a one-point game.
Tyler found Mofunanya on the block and he connected to add two points. After the Knights forced a turnover, Baptiste fed John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) in the low post to give FDU the 26-19 edge.
Grier connected on a jumper before grabbing a defensive rebound, which Baptiste sank from three-point range to give the Knights a 30-22 lead, their largest of the half, heading into the locker room.
Baptiste led all scorers in the first 20 minutes with 10 points and pulled down five rebounds. Justin Drummond led the Seahawks with six points. Fairleigh Dickinson shot 52 percent and was able to hold Wagner to 36 percent. The Knights also out-shot the Seahawks from three-point range, 50 percent- 20 percent. The Knights held an 18-16 edge on the boards.
Kamil Svrdlik (Prerov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Zlin) netted a lay-in and Baptiste followed it with a bucket and the free throw after to increase FDU's lead to 37-24, 1:30 into the second frame.
Moore sparked a 10-0 run for Fairleigh Dickinson, scoring the first eight points on a pair of treys and driving to the hoop for a lay-up before a Mofunanya stole the ball and dunked it to cap the run and put FDU in control of a 47-31 run. During the run, FDU's defense held Wagner scoreless for five minutes.
A jumper from Mofunanya in the paint returned FDU to a 16-point lead, its largest of the game, 49-33.
Wagner connected on back-to-back three-pointers from Chris Martin and Joey Mundweiler as part of a 16-0 spurt to bring it back down to a single-digit lead for the Knights and tie up the game, sending it into overtime.
FDU struggled from the floor, suffering a scoring draught for the final 10:08 of regulation.
A basket from Mofunanya, who had five of the Knights' 10 overtime points, gave the lead to Fairleigh Dickinson to start the extra period, but Jamal Smith connected on a pair of free throws and Wagner took its first lead of the game two minutes into overtime. They added to it on back-to-back baskets by Smith and T.J. Czeski, 55-51.
Mofunanya sank the first of two from the line to make it a three-point deficit, but Drummond sank a jumper.
Moore drove to the basket and scored and Mofunanya fought for a bucket to make it a one-point game, 57-56 with 41 seconds remaining.
With nine seconds left, the Knights' defense forced a turnover to regain possession and with one second on the clock and the Knights down by one, Grier sent up a contested three that gave the Knights the win.
The Knights are now 4-0 in games where they lead at the half.
“I'm really happy about the win,” said Head Coach Tom Green. “I thought that we played well for 35 minutes- the first 30 minutes of the game and the last five minutes in overtime. We got really bogged down in the last 10 minutes of regulation.”
“That last play, we knew they were going to press and we wanted to get the ball into Cam's hands and have him bring the ball down the court and get it to Terence, who obviously came up with a huge three-point shot for us. This was a critical game in terms of the standings.”
Drummond led the Seahawks with 15 points and Mundweiler added 11 for Wagner. The Seahawks held a 37-35 advantage on the boards. The Knights shot 50 percent, while holding Wagner to 37 percent.
The Knights will return home to host Mount St. Mary's in a doubleheader with the women's team on Saturday, Feb. 7. The men's game will tip off at 7:00 p.m., after the women's game.
