Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow) netted a jumper from just inside the arc with three seconds on the clock to give the Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team, who had been leading by as many as 14, a win over host St. Francis NY after the Terriers staged a second-half comeback. The Knights improve to 10-19 on the season, with a 9-7 record in Northeast Conference play, while the Terriers fall to 10-17 overall, including a 7-9 mark in league action.
Sean Baptiste (North Brunswick, NJ/St. Josephs of Metuchen) had 21 points, 17 of which came in the first half, to lead the Knights, while Kamil Svdlik matched his season-high with 13 points, connecting on 5-of-7 from the floor and 3-for-4 from the line. Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) just missed a triple-double with 10 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Svrdlik and John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) each added seven rebounds.
After shooting 41 percent in the first half, FDU shot 50 percent in the second half, holding St. Francis to 37.5 percent for the game.
The Knights took a 9-5 lead to start the game on four-straight points from Scott, but the Terriers scored five unanswered points to take the edge.
Fairleigh Dickinson regained the lead as Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) swiped the ball and took it down to the other end for two points. Svrdlik netted a hook shot after a rebound by Galvin for a 17-13 FDU advantage, but Ricky Cadell's three-pointer made it a one point game with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half.
Baptiste sank his second three of the half off an assist from Galvin to give FDU a 25-18 edge with five minutes on the clock.
The Knights staged a 17-7 run to take a 30-18 lead, with 14-straight FDU points coming from Baptiste. Scott hit a jumper with 16 seconds left until the break to give the Knights a 33-20 lead, but Stefan Perunicic's lay-up as time expired made it a 33-22 FDU advantage.
Baptiste poured in 17 first-half points, going 3-for-4 from three-point range, while Svrdlik and Scott each had six points. Scott grabbed a team-high six boards and dished out six assists, turning the ball over only once. The Knights held a slight edge on the boards, 22-19. Fairleigh Dickinson out-scored St. Francis NY in the paint (18-8), in points of turnovers (11-5) and second-chance points (8-2).
All 22 of the Terriers' points came from four players, with Kayode Ayeni putting in nine and Akeem Bennett having eight in the first frame.
SFC came into the second half on a 13-5 run to cut the Knights' lead to three, 38-35, less than five minutes into the period, but Fairleigh Dickinson went on a 12-3 offensive spurt to reclaim the double-digit lead. The run was started by back-to-back baskets from Svrdlik and Scott.
Cadell sank a three to start a 12-0 run by the Terriers take the lead, 53-52, with five and a half minutes to play as SFC held the Knights scoreless for a stretch of five and a half minutes.
Svrdlik made two from the line to return the lead to the Knights, but Justin Newton sank 1-of-2 to knot the score at 54 with a minute left to play.
Wrice was sent to the line with the score tied and hit one out of two to give St. Francis a 55-54 edge.
With 10.8 seconds on the clock the Knights called a timeout and, after inbounding the ball from half court, Grier found Mofunanya for a jumper that gave FDU the 56-55 advantage with 3.1 seconds remaining in the game, but the Terriers were unable to get a shot off.
This is the first time that Fairleigh Dickinson has defeated St. Francis NY since 2006, as the Terriers have come out on top in the last six meetings.
"The team really stayed together in a tough road environment and pulled it out," said Head Coach Greg Vetrone. "Any time you are on the road and it comes down a one-possession game, you are in a good position. Kamil [Svrdlik] was the "X" factor in the game with 13 points and seven rebounds- that was a tremendous 36 minutes."
"We played the last five minutes without Mike [Scott] after he fouled out I have to give all the credit to Terence [Grier], who took over to run the show and was guarding their best player. We can't take anything away from a great shot by Alvin [Mofunanya], but Terence and Kamil were the stars of the game."
"Any time Sean [Baptiste] is able to score his average, we win the game. I wanted our team to score in the high 60s, 70s, which is what I thought we needed to win this game. Louie [Larizza] came in and helped as another ball handler. And what can I say about Alving? That's a senior making a big time shot."
Fairleigh Dickinson out-rebounded St. Francis NY, 37-32. The Terriers made 10 three-pointers, with five coming from Cadell, who led the squad with 18 points. In the second half, St. Francis scored 17 points off of turnovers, while not allowing the Knights any. The Terriers shot only 25 percent from the charity stripe, while Fairleigh Dickinson shot 69 percent.
The Knights are back in action at Sacred Heart on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7:45 p.m. The game will be broadcast on http://www.fduknights.com, with John Schmeelk and Lance Medow calling the action.
