The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team overcame a 22-point second-half deficit against visiting Sacred Heart on Saturday night to pick up its' first league win of the season, a thrilling 88-85 victory over the Pioneers. The Knights improve to 2-12 overall, with a 1-1 record in Northeast Conference action, while the Pioneers fall to 8-5 on the season, with 1-1 record in league play.
Senior guard Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) (North Brunswick, NJ) led the Knights with a season-high 24 points, adding eight rebounds, while junior guard Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) (Cranford, NJ) had a season-high 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. In his first game back from injury, senior forward Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow) (Englewood, NJ) had a huge game for the Knights with 19 points and nine rebounds. Senior guard Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) (Philadelphia, PA) rounded out the four Knights in double-digits with 14 points and seven rebounds. Not turning the ball over once, Scott dished out 13 assists.
The first 20 minutes of the game saw five lead changes and six ties, with the Pioneers taking a 36-33 lead into the half. Sacred Heart staged a 22-10 run for its' largest lead of the game, 67-45, but the Knights came back, out-scoring the Pioneers 32-10 over a seven-minute span to tie up the game with 4:16 remaining.
With the score tied, Chauncey Hardy connected on one of two from the line, but Mofunanya netted a basket on the other end to give FDU a 79-78 lead.
After Ryan Litke hit a three for the Pioneers, freshman guard DeShawn Dockery (Chicago, IL/Worcester Academy) (Chicago, IL), in his second game in a Knights' uniform, sank one from behind the arc for the Knights to take an 82-81 edge with 1:27 on the clock. Dockery finished the game with a trio of three-pointers for nine points.
A foul in a scuffle for a loose ball sent Litke to the line, where he sank one of the pair to knot the game, 82-82. Mofunanya grabbed the rebound off the second free throw and put it in the hoop to give FDU an 84-82 advantage with 30 seconds left. FDU's defense forced a traveling violation and Scott was sent to the line twice, both times in one-and-one situations. Scott calmly sank all four free throws, giving the Knights a six-point edge with 12 seconds to play. Corey Hassan sank a long three-point field goal with seven seconds remaining in the game, but Litke missed the last-second three-pointer for the tie and the Knights earned the victory.
The Knights took a 9-4 lead to start the game, capped with a three from Scott followed by a fast break lay-up from Grier on Scott's defensive rebound.
The Pioneers took the lead four minutes into the game, 11-10, on a three-pointer by Hardy, finishing a 7-1 offensive spurt for the Pioneers.
Dockery's trey from the corner knotted the game and a three-pointer and floater from Baptiste returned the lead to FDU, 18-15.
Fairleigh Dickinson took a 23-22 advantage on an old-fashioned three-point play from Mofunanya, but the Pioneers scored eight unanswered points to reclaim the lead.
The Knights responded, going on a 7-0 run as Mofunanya, Grier and Baptiste netted three-straight baskets, with Grier connecting on the free throw after as well, to knot the game at 30-30 with three minutes remaining in the first half.
Grier sank a jumper with a minute on the clock to cut the Pioneers' lead to three and FDU's defense forced a backcourt violation with 30 seconds left to make the score 36-33 heading into the half.
Grier, Baptiste and Mofunanya each had nine points to lead the Knights, while Liam Potter's eight points and eight rebounds led the Pioneers.
The Knights out-shot Sacred Heart, 48 percent -43 percent in the first frame, but were out-rebounded, 27-14, with FDU pulling down only one offensive rebound. Scott dished out four assists without turning the ball over.
Grier made it a one-point game right out of the break with a lay-in, 36-35, but the Pioneers went on a 7-0 run to make it an eight-point gap. A three-pointer from Hassan gave Sacred Heart a 46-37 lead, but Baptiste responded with one of his own from behind the arc.
Hardy connected on a three-pointer to give Sacred Heart its' first double-digit lead of the game, 52-40, five and a half minutes into the second period.
The Pioneers used a 27-8 run, on the strength of five three-pointers over the first seven minutes of the half, to take a 63-43 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the game.
Despite the shift in momentum, the Knights were able to stay in the game, fighting back as they staged a 34-11 spurt over eight and a half minutes.
Dockery sank a three-pointer and on the other side of the court, Scott grabbed the defensive rebound, giving it to Grier, who fed Baptiste for a bucket. Grier then had back-to-back baskets to cut the Pioneer lead down to 69-58 with eight and a half minutes to play. Scott had a three-point play and Baptiste's lay-up made it a seven-point game, 70-63, with less than eight minutes left.
Baptiste drained a three-pointer to make it a two-point game, 75-73, but Potter put in two free throws with 5:13 on the clock for a four-point Pioneer lead.
Mofunanya's dunk made it a 77-75 contest, and a jump ball gave possession to the Knights, who tied up the game on a bucket from Mofunanya.
"This team became a team tonight," said Head Coach Greg Vetrone. "We were down 22 with 11 minutes left and they just did not quit. We played man-to-man the entire game and wore them out. Having Alvin and DeShawn back were big, along with 24 points and eight rebounds from Sean. This game came down to heart and desire."
FDU finished the game shooting 55 percent, while holding the Pioneers to 46 percent. The Knights shot 58 percent from three-point range (7-12), holding SHU to 33 percent (9-27).
Despite Sacred Heart holding the advantage on the boards (42-35), the Knights posted a 54-38 advantage in points in the paint and 23-8 advantage in fast break points.
The Knights' 88 points were a season-high, as was the team field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage and assists (21).
The Knights will look to continue the momentum against Bryant on Thursday evening at Stratis Arena; tipoff is at 7:30 p.m., following the women's game versus the Bulldogs.
