The Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team used a strong second half to stage a comeback and win its third-straight conference game against Wagner, 70-65, at Stratis Arena on Thursday night in a game televised live on MSG. The three-game conference win streak is the Knights' second of the season and moves them to 8-5 in league play, and 9-17 overall. The Seahawks fall to 4-22 this season, including 2-11 in Northeast Conference action.
Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) led the Knights, pouring in 26 points, his 10th game with 20 points or more this season. Baptiste shot 10-for-18 and pulled down six rebounds. Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) had 18 points and Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow) recorded his fourth double-double of the season, and third-straight, with 12 points and a career-high 17 points. Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 assists, two shy of his career-high. Scott had only three turnovers.
After shooting 43.5 percent in the first half and scoring 29 points, the Knights, who were down by as many as 13 in the second half, shot over 50 percent (.516) in the final 20 minutes and scored 41 points to overtake the Seahawks. The Knights, who held a dominating 39-27 edge on the boards, had only three turnovers in the second half, after 10 first-half turnovers.
Four and a half minutes into the game, the Knights took a 9-8 lead on a three-pointer from Baptiste. A dunk from Mofunanya knotted the score at 11-11 and Baptiste sank another trey to give FDU the lead.
Baptiste connected on all three shots from the free throw line for a 17-15 lead with 12 minutes remaining, but Wagner scored the next five points to take over the lead.
DeShawn Dockery (Chicago, IL/Worcester Academy)'s trey was followed by a steal from Baptiste that led to a fast-break lay-up to give Fairleigh Dickinson a 23-20 edge with under five minutes remaining in the first frame.
FDU took its largest lead of the half, 27-22, as Grier connected on a pair from the stripe before sinking a lay-up off an assist from Scott with 3:32 remaining.
Mofunanya's dunk made it a 29-25 Fairleigh Dickinson advantage, but the Seahawks closed out the half on a 8-0 run over the final 2:27 to take a 33-29 lead into the break.
In a first half that saw five ties and nine lead changes, Tyler Murray led all scorers with 15 points. Baptiste led FDU with 13 points and Mofunanya added nine points and six rebounds.
The Seahawks continued their run from the end of the first half, using the first six minutes of the second half to stretch the offensive spurt as they out-scored FDU, 27-10.
The Knights reeled off five-straight points to cut the gap to single digits, 52-44, including a three-point play by Mofunanya.
Grier drove hard to the basket to add to the score and converted the free throw after to put the Knights within seven, 56-49, with just over 10 minutes left in the game.
Baptiste netted a three and then drove to the hoop for a 5-0 run of his own and Grier's three from the corner with eight minutes left to play made it a 60-56 game. The Knights kept the momentum in their favor, trimming Wagner's lead to two as Mofunanya found Dockery cutting under the basket for a lay-in. Baptiste sank one-of-two from the line to cut the lead even further, 60-59, and Scott returned the lead to FDU on a drive to the basket. The points by Scott capped a 21-7 run by the Knights to take the lead.
After Doug Elwell's three-pointer, Baptiste drained a pull-up jumper to knot the game, 63-63, with 3:35 on the clock.
Baptiste grabbed a steal and Scott fed him on the fast break for a lay-up. On the ensuing possession, Mofunanya swatted a shot on the defensive end and Scott pulled up and swished one from just inside the arc with six seconds on the shot clock to make it 67-63.
Elwell put in both of his free throws with less than a minute remaining to cut the Knights' lead to two points, 67-65, but Baptiste gave the Knights a cushion with another lay-up. Scott blocked the ball and Grier jumped for the rebound, hitting a free throw on the other end to make the final 70-65 in favor of the Knights.
"Sean had 26 points, Terence had 18 points, Mike had 11 assists and Alvin grabbed 17 rebounds," said Head Coach Greg Vetrone. "This was a team effort and a total team victory."
"In the first half, they double-teamed Mike off of all the ball screens, so we made adjustments in the second half that worked, getting Sean open more often."
"Terence's defense was huge- he asked to guard [Danny] Mundweiler and he did it- he shut him down at the end of the game," said Vetrone. Grier stepped up big offensively as well, scoring 18 points after combining for 14 points in the last three games.
In the second half, the Knights out-scored Wagner in the paint, 22-10. Murray had only two points in the second half to finish with 17 while Mundweiler led the Seahawks with 18 points and Elwell added 12.
The Knights will host Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
