Box Score

The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team dropped its 14^th consecutive game Monday afternoon as they fell at home to Longwood, 87-83, at Stratis Arena in Hackensack, NJ.  With the victory, the Lancers improve to 7-12 on the season, while the Knights fall to 1-16 overall.

Trailing 85-83 and with possession of the basketball with 12 seconds left, FDU had an opportunity to either tie or take the lead.  However, the ball was knocked out of junior Melquan Bolding (Mt. Vernon, N.Y./Bishop Stepinac)'s right hand as he drove to the hoop.  In an attempt to retrieve the loose ball, he stepped out of bounds giving the ball to Longwood.

Tristan Carey was fouled with 2.1 seconds left and sank both free throws to ice the game for the Lancers and to give them the 87-83 victory in a contest that featured seven ties and seven lead changes.

Bolding led the Knights with a career-high 38 points (25 in the second half).  He shot 50 percent from the floor as he went 12-of-24, knocked down 4-of-10 shots from three-point range and went a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.  Graduate student George Goode (Raytown, MO/Raytown South) added 19 points (17 after halftime) and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.

Graduate student Mouhamed Lo (Port Chester, NY/Port Chester ) added nine points (all in the first half), while senior Sam Fernley (Sheffield, England/Silverdale) dished out a career-best six assists without committing a turnover.

Statistically, both teams were pretty much even.  The biggest difference in the game came at the three-point line where the Lancers knocked down 11-of-26 three's.  They went 7-of-15 in the first half.  FDU made only 5-of-18 but converted 4-of-10 after halftime after starting the game 1-of-8.

The Knights shot 47.5 percent (29-of-61) for the game including 55.2 percent (16-of-29) in the second half.  Longwood shot 43.5 percent (27-of-62) from the floor for the game. 

FDU also shot the ball well from the free throw line as they converted 20-of-26 (76.9 percent).  The Lancers shot 75.9 percent (22-of-29).
The Knights dished out a season-high 19 assists on their 29 made baskets and also tied their season low in turnovers with 11. 
Longwood also turned it over 11 times.  FDU also won the rebounding battle, 37-35, but Longwood was able to outscore the Knights, 21-12, in second-chance points. 

FDU scored the first four points of the game and led 9-8 going into the first media timeout at the 15:51 mark of the first half.
Bolding's coast-to-coast layup gave the Knights a 16-10 lead with 13:31 to go before halftime.

An 11-4 run by Longwood gave the Lancers their first lead of the game at 21-20 but seven-straight points by Bolding, capped by a one-handed slam, stretched the FDU lead back to six at 27-21 with 6:30 remaining in the first half.

Longwood then went on a 10-0 run over the next three and a half minutes to take a 31-27 lead.  The lead eventually reached six before Lo's layup with three seconds left in the half put the Knights down 37-33 heading into the break.

The Lancers started the second half inspired as they scored the first nine points to take their largest lead of the game at 46-33 with 17:37 left in the game.  At that point, the visitors had outscored FDU, 25-6, since the 6:30 mark of the first half.

However, the Knights began to mount a comeback as they scored the next six points to cut the deficit to 46-39.  After Longwood was able to extend its lead back to eight on two different occasions, FDU scored 10 unanswered points as a three-pointer by senior Briahn Smith (Detroit, MI/Madison) gave the Knights the lead at 54-52 with 12:20 left in the game and capped a 21-6 run for the home team.

With the game tied at 56, five-straight points by Bolding gave FDU a 61-56 lead, but the Lancers then scored five unanswered to tie the game at 61 with 9:45 remaining.

Over the next four minutes, the game would be tied three different times.  With the score tied at 69, Longwood scored four-straight points to go ahead 73-69 with 5:09 to play.

FDU fought back as Goode's layup tied the game at 76 with 2:48 to go in the game, but the Lancers then reeled off five-straight points over the next minute to go up 81-76.

Trailing by four, Bolding knocked down his fourth three-pointer of the game to cut the lead to one at 82-81 with 40 seconds to go. 

After two free throws by Longwood's Jan van der Kooji, who came into the game shooting 42 percent from the line, put Longwood back up by three with 28 seconds left, Fernley found Goode for a dunk with 14 seconds left to cut the lead to 84-83.

Carey was then fouled with 12 seconds left.  He missed the first and made the second to allow the Knights the opportunity to either tie or take the lead, but Bolding's turnover and Carey making both free throws after being fouled sealed any chance for FDU to pick up its second victory of the season.

“We played as well offensively as we have played all year,” Head Coach Greg Vetrone said.  “Defensively, we did not have the effort we played with this past Saturday.  We have to find a way to win the two conference games we having coming up this week at home.”

Jeremiah Bowing led the Lancers with 22 points and a game-high eight assists.  Antwan Carter added 20 points and a team-best eight rebounds.  Martiz Washington and Carey chipped in 18 and 15 points, respectively.

The Knights will return to action when they host Robert Morris on Thursday, January, 19.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Stratis Arena in Hackensack, NJ.