Box Score

The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team was downed Thursday evening at Mount St. Mary's, 77-63, at Knott Arena in Emmitsburg, MD.  With the victory, the Mount improve to 7-19 (5-10 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 2-24 (1-14 NEC) overall.

Junior Melquan Bolding (Mt. Vernon, N.Y./Bishop Stepinac) led the Knights with 20 points on 9-of19 shooting from the floor.  Graduate student George Goode (Raytown, MO/Raytown South) added 13 points and five rebounds, while sophomore Ayotunde Oyeniyi (Lagos, Nigeria/The Rock School (FL)) chipped in a career-best 12 points, grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to tie a career high and blocked two shots.

With the game tied at 11, the Mount used a 30-6 run to take a 41-17 with exactly six minutes remaining before halftime.

The biggest difference in the game took place behind the three-point line as the Mount connected on 12-of-28 from downtown coupled with the Knights making only 4-of-13.

The Mount shot 51.5 percent (17-of-33) over the first 20 minutes and nailed 8-of-16 from three-point range, while FDU shot only 33.3 percent (8-of-24) and only 2-of-7 from behind the arc.

FDU shot a blistering 58.3 percent (14-of-24) in the second half to finish the game shooting 45.8 percent (22-of-48).  The Mount finished the game shooting 45 percent (27-of-60) after cooling off in the second half to 37 percent (10-of-27).

The Mount out-rebounded the Knights, 33-27, and outscored FDU on second-chance points, 16-8.  They also forced the Knights into 16 turnovers, while committing only 12.

After being down as many as 24 in the first half and 19 (43-24) at halftime, the Knights started the second half on a 7-2 run to cut the lead to 45-31 with 17:06 remaining.

Right after FDU scored the basket to cut the deficit to 14, a technical foul was called on junior Kinu Rochford (Brooklyn, N.Y./James Madison).  The Mount then scored the next seven points and outscored FDU, 17-4, over the next six minutes to extend its lead to 62-35 with 10:55 left in the contest.

The Knights outscored the Mount, 9-2, over the final 2:26 to make the final score 77-63 as they outscored the home team in the second half, 39-34.

“You just have to give the Mount credit for knocking down its three-point shots in the first half,” Head Coach Greg Vetrone said.  “Some of the shots they made were deep.  I liked how we came out to start the second half, but the technical foul changed the entire momentum of the game.”

Kelvin Parker led the Mount with game highs in points (21), rebounds (9) and steals (5), while drilling 5-of-8 from behind the arc.  Julian Norfleet added 17 points on 5-of-13 shooting from three-point range.  Josh Castellanos scored 14 points and dished out a game-high six assists, while Raven Barber came off the bench to chip in 13 points.

The Knights will have a quick turnaround as they play their final road game of the season this Saturday, Feb. 18 when they take on Wagner in Staten Island, NY.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and will be televised on Time Warner cable.