The Fairleigh Dickinson University basketball team fell to visiting Quinnipiac, 74-65, on Saturday night to close out the regular season. The Knights conclude the regular season with an 11-20 overall record and 10-8 mark in Northeast Conference play. FDU will play at Long Island in Brooklyn, NY on Thursday, March 4 in the first round of the Northeast Conference quarterfinals.
John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) led the Knights, who had four players record double-digits, with a season-high 15 points and seven rebounds. Alvin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow) recorded his eighth double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds, just two boards shy of his career-high. Mofunanya also added five blocks and a career-high five assists. Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) had 14 points seven assists, along with three steals and Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) added 11 points.
A free throw from Scott tied the game at 9-9 four minutes into the game, but Quinnipiac (21-8, 15-3 NEC) scored the next 10 points to take the lead.
The Knights out-scored Quinnipiac, 8-2, over the next two and a half minutes to make it a four-point game (21-17) with eight minutes remaining in the half.
Scott found Galvin on a fast break for a bucket that cut QU's lead to 27-21 before a three from the corner by DeShawn Dockery (Chicago, IL/Worcester Academy) made it a 29-24 game with five minutes left on the clock. But the Bobcats scored seven-straight points to take a double-digit lead over the Knights.
Scott led the Knights in the first half with seven points, while Mofunanya grabbed six first-half boards. The Knights shot 33 percent from the floor, while QU shot 41 percent.
The Bobcats took a 53-36 lead after going on a 14-9 run over the first seven minutes of the half.
FDU had nine-straight points as Kamil Svrdlik (Prerov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Zlin) connected on a three-pointer to start things off. Svrdlik finished the game with nine points. Grier's basket and the free throw after were followed by Mofunanya converting an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 62-56.
Fairleigh Dickinson looked like they were going to repeat Thursday's feat- a 19-point comeback win against Sacred Heart- as they went on an 18-5 run against the Bobcats over a six-minute span to make it just a three-point game, 65-62. The offensive spurt was capped emphatically by a dunk from Grier off an assist from Mofunanya with 3:26 remaining in the game.
With two fouls called on the Knights, the Bobcats connected on 3-of-4 from the line to take a five-point lead into the final minute and a half. The final 12 points of the game came from the free throw line for the Bobcats to take the 74-65 win.
"We played really hard," said Head Coach Greg Vetrone. "But we can't miss 16 free throws against a good team like that and win. We should win a game where we take 15 more trips to the line. Alvin had a great game- his rebounding is a huge factor; John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) had a great game with 15 points and seven rebounds."
FDU shot 41 percent in the second half and held an edge in fast break points, 12-2. The Bobcats held a slight edge on the boards, 40-38.
Quinnipiac was led by Jeremy Baker's 20 points, while Justin Rutty had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. James Johnson added 13 points.
