The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team earned its second-straight conference win with a 66-50 victory against visiting Bryant on Thursday evening at the Rothman Center. The Knights improve to 2-1 in the conference and 3-12 overall, while the Bulldogs fall to 0-15 this season, including a 0-3 mark in league action.
Senior guard Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) (North Brunswick, NJ) led the Knights with his first double-double of the season, recording 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, both game-highs. Junior guard Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) (Philadelphia, PA) added 16 points and improved his assist-to-turnover streak to 18-0 with five assists and no turnovers (against Sacred Heart on Jan. 2, Scott had 13 assists and no turnovers).
Senior forward Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow) (Englewood, NJ) and junior forward John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) (Weston, CT), each had 11 points to make it the second-straight game with four Knights scoring in double-figures.
Bryant jumped out to a 10-1 lead on five points each from Vlad Kondratyev and Michael Chroney, but the Knights were able to shift the momentum and take the lead. Freshman guard DeShawn Dockery (Chicago, IL/Worcester Academy) (Chicago, IL), who finished the game with six points and three assists, connected on a shot from just inside the arc and Scott picked up a big rebound on the other end that led to a lay-up from junior guard Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) (Cranford, NJ).
Scott's steal on the next possession gave the Knights the 12-11 lead as he took it end-to-end for the fast break lay-in. Back-to-back baskets by Mofunanya gave FDU a 20-17 lead with 7:35 remaining in the half.
FDU grabbed a 24-19 edge on a jumper by Mofunanya but the Bulldogs reeled off the next four points. Scott sank a three from the corner and then found Galvin alone under the basket to give FDU a 31-24 advantage with just over two minutes left in the first half.
A three-point play from Galvin with less than 50 seconds remaining in the first frame gave FDU a 34-27 lead and Galvin sank a jumper as the buzzer sounded to give FDU a 36-27 lead heading into the break.
The game saw eight lead changes over the first 12 minutes of the half, but the Knights held the lead for the final eight minutes.
Galvin and Mofunanya led the Knights with nine points each, as Mofunanya went a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor. Baptiste led FDU on the boards, grabbing six, as the two teams were even after the first 20 minutes (17-17).
Fairleigh Dickinson shot 50 percent and held the Bulldogs to 38 percent, but Byrant was stronger from the line, 64-42 percent. Adam Parzych led all scorers with 10 points.
Baptiste started the second half with a three-pointer 40 seconds in and Mofunanya connected on one-of-two from the line to increase the Knights' lead to double-digits, 40-27. The Knights began the second half on an 8-2 run, capped by two free throws from Dockery, over the first three and a half minutes for the 44-29 lead.
Scott's floater at the shot clock buzzer gave the Knights a 46-31 edge with 13:37 on the clock but a 9-2 run by the Bulldogs, on the strength of a pair of three-pointers from Chris Birrell, cut the Knights' lead down to 50-42 with 11 minutes left to play.
Galvin connected on both ends of a one-and-one, Baptiste drained a three from the top of the key the next time down and Scott sank two free throws for seven unanswered points by the Knights to regain the double-digit lead, which FDU would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.
A foul with 5:26 on the clock sent Scott to the charity stripe, where he sank both for a 62-45 lead, FDU's largest of the night. Sophomore forward Anaclet Mulumba (Montreal, Canada/Vanier College) (Montreal, Canada) put in a lay-up with a minute remaining to give FDU the 66-50 win.
In a physical game that saw 48 fouls, the Knights shot 78 percent from the line in the final 20 minutes to finish the game shooting 63 percent. FDU held Bryant's leading scorer coming into the game, Raphael Jordan, scoreless, while Kondratyev finished the game with 16 points to lead the Bulldogs and Adam Parzych had 10 points and seven rebounds. The Knights out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 38-28.
"I'm excited about the win," said Head Coach Greg Vetrone. "I'm going to enjoy this, but tomorrow we are going back to work. We can't have 19 turnovers against Central Connecticut on Saturday. We had a lot of energy tonight. When they cut it to eight, I called a timeout and no one's head was down, they had energy and were ready to fight."
"We held their leading scorer scoreless and after [Parzych] had 10 points in the first half, we held him scoreless in the second," said Vetrone. "Alvin and DeJuan had three fouls early and John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) stepped up with a tremendous game. He had nine points in eight minutes and gave us the lift we needed. Sean is really getting on track with 24 points last game and 18 points this game and Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) is playing really well- it's great when you have a point guard with production like that."
The Knights are back in action when they host Central Connecticut on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m., after the women's game at 5:00 p.m.
