Box Score

The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team dropped its 15^th consecutive game as they fell to Robert Morris at home Thursday evening, 67-55, at Stratis Arena in Hackensack, NJ.  With the victory, the Colonials improve to 14-6 (5-2 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 1-17 (0-7 NEC) overall.

After George Goode (Raytown, MO/Raytown South)'s jumper gave FDU a 50-47 lead with 7:46 to play, RMU outscored the Knights, 20-5, over the final 7:27 to take the victory.

The difference in the game came down to the free throw line where the Colonials made 20-of-25 including a perfect 12-of-12 in the second half.  The Knights made only 10-of-16 from the charity stripe and only 3-of-8 in the second half including a crucial miss of the front end of a one-and-one when they had a 52-51 lead with 5:45 left in the game.

RMU also forced the Knights into 18 turnovers and scored 25 points off FDU's miscues.  The Knights only scored eight points off the Colonials' 11 turnovers. 

The visitors also outscored FDU, 21-8, on second-chance points.

Junior Melquan Bolding (Mt. Vernon, N.Y./Bishop Stepinac) led the Knights with 15 points.  He scored the final 12 points for FDU in the first half.  Goode added 12 points and tied for game high honors with nine rebounds and also recorded three blocks. 

Senior Briahn Smith (Detroit, MI/Madison), who had a great game defensively, chipped in 10 points, five rebounds and three assists, while sophomore Mathias Seilund (Dragoer, Denmark/Falkonergaardens Gymnasium) also chipped in 10 points off the bench including two big three-pointers in the first half.

After taking a 1-0 lead, FDU saw RMU score the next 10 points to take a 10-1 lead.

Back-to-back three's by Seilund cut the deficit to 12-7 with 13:24 to go before halftime.

The Colonials then scored the next basket, but the Knights fought back as junior Lonnie Robinson (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Deerfield Beach)'s three from the right wing cut the lead to 16-14.

RMU answered with seven-straight points to extend the lead back out to nine at 23-14 with 5:28 left in the first half.

Bolding then caught fire as he personally went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 25-24 which forced the Colonials to call a 30-second timeout.

Bolding knocked down a short jumper with 52 seconds left in the half to give FDU its second lead of the game at 26-25, but a layup by the Colonials' Lucky Jones with three seconds to go gave RMU a 27-26 halftime lead.

Both teams shot dreadful from the floor over the first 20 minutes as they each connected on 33.3 percent of their shots.  The Knights made 3-of-8 from behind the arc, while RMU went only 1-for-6.  The Colonials also went 8-of-13 from the free throw line, and FDU made 7-of-8. 

To open the second half, junior Kinu Rochford (Brooklyn, N.Y./James Madison) found Goode on a beautiful high-low pass for a strong two-handed slam to give the Knights the lead back at 28-27.

Next time down the court, Bolding found Goode for an easy layup to extend the lead to three before Jones nailed a three to tie the game at 30 with 18:10 remaining.

After extending its lead to four on three different occasions, RMU stretched its lead to six at 40-34.  However, the Knights fought back once again as Smith's three free throws triggered a 9-0 run which was capped by a Seilund baseline jumper to give the home team a 43-40 lead with 11:52 to go in the game.

With 8:44 to go, Smith knocked down a three-pointer from the right wing to give FDU its largest lead of the game, 48-44. 
The Colonials were able to cut the lead to one, but Goode's jumper put the Knights ahead, 50-47.

RMU then started to take control as a layup by Lijah Thompson started a 13-2 run for the Colonials.  During the start of the run, RMU went up 51-50 before a Goode put back gave FDU its last lead of the game at 52-51.

With a chance to extend their lead, Robinson missed the front end of a one-and-one with 5:49 to go, and two foul shots by Thompson sparked the next 10 points for the Colonials as the opened their lead to eight at 60-52 with 3:28 to go.

On their next possession, the Knights cut the lead to three (60-55) as Bolding scored his only points of the second half with a three-pointer from the left wing.  However, that was as close as FDU would come as RMU outscored the Knights, 7-0, over the final 2:49 to take the 67-55 victory.  The Knights did not score over the final 3:12 of the contest.

Both teams shot much better in the second half as FDU shot a blistering 57.1 percent (12-of-21), while the Colonials shot 46.2 percent (12-of-26).  The difference as mentioned before was at the free throw line where RMU went a perfect 12-of-12 with the Knights only going 3-of-8. 

The Colonials also scored 14 points of seven second-half turnovers by FDU.  RMU only turned it over three times over three times.

The Knights shot a respectable 44.4 percent (20-of-45) for the game and held the Colonials to 39.6 percent (12-of-53).  Both teams made five threes (FDU was 5-of-12; RMU was 5-of-17), but RMU shot better at the free throw line as they shot 80 percent (20-of-25), while FDU shot only 62.5 percent (10-of-16).

“I thought we played well defensively tonight,” Head Coach Greg Vetrone said.  “Briahn Smith (Detroit, MI/Madison) did a great job shutting down Coron Williams (three points after scoring 19 the first game back in December).  I told the team we need to shoot at least 70 percent from the free throw line, and missed free throws in the second half killed us tonight.  We have to build on this performance heading into Saturday.”

Velton Jones led the Colonials with 22 points and a game-high six assists.  Lucky Jones added 16 points, nine rebounds and four steals, while Thompson chipped in 14 points and five rebounds off the bench.

The Knights will have a quick turnaround when they host Saint Francis PA in a Northeast Conference tilt Saturday afternoon at Stratis Arena in Hackensack.  Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.