The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team dropped its seventh-straight game Saturday night as they fell on the road to Mount St. Mary's, 70-59, at Knott Arena in Emmitsburg, MD. With the victory, the Mountaineers improve to 9-16 (7-5 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 4-19 (2-11 NEC) overall.
The Mount used an 18-6 run over an 8:52 stretch from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second half to take their largest lead of the game, 46-33, with 14:45 remaining.
At the 13:30 mark of the second half, the arena experience a power outage and both teams had to go to the locker rooms for a delay that lasted a little over a half-hour.
After the outage, FDU fought back to cut the lead to seven on two different occasions. Trailing 62-55, senior Mike Scott (Philadelphia, PA/Texas Christian) had a layup blocked off the glass that looked like a goal tend but was not called. The follow-up by senior Kamil Svrdlik (Prerov, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Zlin) was also swatted away and was close to being a goal tend. The Mount then grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 2:21 left in the game. Both free throws were made, taking the life out of the Knights, and Mount St. Mary's cruised to the 70-59 victory.
Svrdlik led the Knights with 19 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Senior John Galvin (Weston, CT/Weston) added nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Scott, junior Briahn Smith (Detroit, MI/Madison) and sophomore DeShawn Dockery (Chicago, IL/Worcester Academy) all chipped in eight points.
Despite the Mount drilling its first four three-pointers, the Knights were able to keep pace early on in the first half. Trailing 12-10, Svrdlik scored four of the next seven points go give the Knights their largest lead of the half, 17-12, with 12:39 remaining.
The Mount fought back to take a short-lived lead, and the second-consecutive pull-up jumper by Scott tied the game at 23.
Trailing once again, Galvin knocked down a 17-foot jumper to cut the deficit to 28-27 with 3:55 to go in the half.
However, the Mount ended the half on a 9-2 run to go into the break up 37-29.
The difference in the game was turnovers as FDU turned the ball over 15 times (11 in the first half), and the Mount only turned it over five times (twice in the first half). They scored 17 points off Knights' turnovers.
The Knights also shot a respectable 46.2 percent (12-of-26) in the first half but struggled after the break, shooting only 32.1 percent. They finished the game 21-of-54 (38.9 percent).
The Mount shot 42.6 percent (26-of-61) for the game. The Knights outrebounded the Mountaineers, 39-33.
"Until we get better at taking care of the ball, we are going to have a tough time winning," said Head Coach Greg Vetrone. "Our effort was good, but we have to cut down on the mistakes."
Shawn Atupem led the Mount with 17 points. Julian Norfleet added 14 points.
Next week is Rivalry Week in the Northeast Conference. The Knights will play Garden State rival Monmouth on Wednesday, Feb. 9, and Saturday, Feb. 12. The first game is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. in West Long Branch, NJ, while the latter game will be played at Stratis Arena at 2:00 p.m. and will be televised on MSG.
