The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team lost its second-straight heartbreaker, 72-67, Saturday afternoon versus Central Connecticut State at Detrick Gymnasium in New Britain, CT. The Blue Devils avenge a loss to the Knights from back in December and improve to 12-7 (5-3 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 4-14 (2-6 NEC) overall.
Senior Terence Grier (Cranford, NJ/St. Thomas More Prep) led four Knights in double-figures with 15 points. Junior Briahn Smith (Detroit, MI/Madison) added 14 points and a career-high eight rebounds. Senior Kamil Svrdlik (Prerov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Zlin) added 13 points and seven rebounds, while senior John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) picked up his third double-double of the season with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Grier and senior Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) each dished out four assists.
After trailing 28-26 at the half, the Knights came out and outscored the Blue Devils, 14-6, as Svrdlik's dunk gave them their largest lead of the game at 40-32 with 13:22 remaining in regulation.
CCSU was able to fight back and cut the lead to one on two different occasions. With the Knights up 45-44, Grier and Scott hit back-to-back buckets to extend the lead back to six at 50-44 with 3:53 left in regulation.
The Blue Devils scored to make it 50-46 with 3:27 to go in regulation, and neither team scored until Smith made one of two free throws to give the Knights a 51-46 advantage with 31 seconds remaining.
After CCSU's Shemik Thompson made two free throws, Smith once again made one of two at the free throw line, giving the Knights a 52-48 lead with 10 seconds left in regulation.
With four seconds left, Chris Baskerville scored a layup for the Blue Devils, cutting the lead to 52-50.
After a pair of 30-second timeouts was called, Grier was fouled with three seconds left and had a chance to seal the victory for the Knights. However, he missed the front end of a one-and-one. The Blue Devils collected the rebound and called timeout with three seconds still left on the clock.
Having to go the full 94 feet to score, CCSU executed its play to perfection as Ken Horton received the ball around the top of the key and found a backdoor-cutting Thompson for the game-tying layup at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
In the extra period, FDU took a brief 55-54 lead before the Blue Devils answered with four-straight points to go up 58-55 with 2:25 left in overtime.
Grier answered with a trey ball to tie the game at 58 with 2:02 to go.
CCSU then took control of the game as they scored the next eight points to take a 66-58 lead with 41 seconds left.
Missed free throws by the Blue Devils allowed the Knights to cut deficit to three, but it was not enough as CCSU escaped with the 72-67 overtime victory.
To start the game, the Knights jumped out to a quick 8-4 lead as Scott and Grier each knocked down three-pointers. The Blue Devils then charged back with eight-straight points to go up 12-8 with 14:07 remaining in the opening half.
Smith, Galvin and Svrdlik each scored a bucket in a mini-run that saw the Knights reclaim the lead, 14-12.
With the score tied at 16, CCSU went on a 12-5 run to take its largest lead of the half, 28-21, with 1:29 to go.
However, the Knights scored the final five points of the half on a Smith trey ball and a Tyler Reynolds (Eugene, OR/Sheldon) jumper to go into the locker room down 28-26.
FDU finished the game shooting 40 percent (26-of-65) from the floor, while holding CCSU to 38.8 percent (26-of-67). The Knights also out-rebounded the Blue Devils, 47-43, and dished out 14 assists. However, they turned the ball over 20 times.
The game featured nine ties and eight lead changes.
Horton led all scorers with 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Thompson added 22 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Robby Ptacek chipped in 10 points.
The Knights head home for three-straight contests at Stratis Arena starting Thursday, Jan. 27, versus Long Island. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Hackensack.
