Live Video    Live Stats
Game Notes

The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team will look to pick up its first Northeast Conference home win of the season when they host Quinnipiac Thursday evening at Stratis Arena for the first of three-straight NEC home contests.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Hackensack, NJ.
 
The Knights (2-19, 1-9 NEC) came up short on the road last Saturday at Central Connecticut State, 69-62.  Trailing 20-10 in the first half, FDU took off on a 14-0 run and eventually went into halftime with a 27-26 lead.  With the game tied at 38 almost midway through the second half, a technical foul called on the Knights triggered six-straight points for CCSU as the home team took a 44-38 lead.  For much of the second part of the second half, the Knights could not cut the lead to less than five nor could the Blue Devils extend the lead to more than seven. 
 
FDU had its chance to make a move with a little over five minutes to go.  Down 54-47, graduate student George Goode (Raytown, MO/Raytown South) went to the free throw line but missed both free throws.  Still down by the same score, Goode then missed a dunk with 4:35 to go.  A tip back by junior Kinu Rochford (Brooklyn, N.Y./James Madison) finally cut the lead back to five at 54-49 with 3:49 to go, but FDU missed a golden opportunity to cut into the deficit and put some pressure on the Blue Devils.  However, CCSU was able to regain control and extended its lead out to nine at 60-51 and never allowed the Knights to get any closer than six the rest of the way.
 
FDU made 13-of-28 field goals in the second half to finish the contest shooting 46.9 percent (23-of-49), while going 5-of-14 from three-point range.  They held the Blue Devils to 42 percent (21-of-50) for the game and only 2-of-9 from behind the arc.  The Knights also out-rebounded CCSU, 31-28.  The biggest difference in the game came at the free throw line as CCSU nailed 25-of-28 including 21-of-24 in the second half, while FDU made only 11-of-19 for the contest and 7-of-14 in the second half.  The Knights also turned the ball over 16 times which led to 16 points for the Blue Devils.  FDU scored only eight points off nine CCSU miscues.
 
Goode led the Knights with 17 points, a game-high nine rebounds and two blocked shots.  Rochford came off the bench to score 13 points, grab five rebounds and block two shots.  Senior Briahn Smith (Detroit, MI/Madison) added 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, while sophomore Mathias Seilund (Dragoer, Denmark/Falkonergaardens Gymnasium) chipped in 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range and two blocked shots.  Junior Lonnie Robinson (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Deerfield Beach) added nine points, seven rebounds and a career-high seven assists in 40 minutes of action.
 
Scouting Quinnipiac: The Bobcats (11-10, 4-6 NEC), who were selected to finish fifth in the Northeast Conference,  currently sit in a four-way tie for sixth place in the standings.  They had won two straight with a pair of overtime wins (at Bryant, 78-71; vs. Mount St. Mary's, 69-66) before losing on a free throw to Wagner this past Saturday at home, 51-50.  The last 14 contests Quinnipiac has played have been decided by 10 points or less and have gone 8-6 over that stretch.  Both the Bobcats and the Knights have played Lehigh and Vermont in their non-conference schedules.  Both schools lost to Lehigh by 11, but Quinnipiac defeated the Catamounts (62-58) on the road, while FDU fell at home to Vermont, 71-53.
 
Senior guard James Johnson leads the team in scoring at 17.1 ppg and is also the team leader in steals (32) and three-point shooting (35.4 percent; 46-of-130).  Sophomore forward Ike Azotam is the team's second-leading scorer at 16.3 ppg and leads the team in rebounding at 9.8 rpg which tops all student-athletes in the Northeast Conference.  He is also shooting 54.1 percent (133-of-246) from the floor and leads the Bobcats with 22 blocked shots.
 
All-Time Series: This will be the 30th meeting between the two schools as they have played at least once every year since the 1997-98 season.  The series actually started during the 1954-55 season with the Knights winning 91-81 at home over the Bobcats.  Quinnipiac defeated FDU the next season at its place, 88-71.  During the 1985-86 season, the Knights handled the Bobcats at home, 77-59.  FDU holds a 16-13 advantage in the all-time series and are 12-4 against Quinnipiac in home games.  However, the Bobcats have won five in a row and eight of the last night against the Knights.  FDU's last victory in the series was a 72-68 win at Stratis Arena during the 2008-09 season.