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The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team will return home for its final two games of the season, starting with first-place LIU Brooklyn on Thursday evening.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Stratis Arena in Hackensack, NJ.  Former Head Coach Tom Green will be honored at halftime for being inducted into the Northeast Conference Hall of Fame earlier this season.
 
The Knights (2-25, 1-15 NEC) were defeated soundly at Wagner, 90-70, this past Saturday night in Staten Island, NY.  With the scored tied at eight early on, the Seahawks outscored the Knights, 25-8, to take a 33-16 lead with 5:55 remaining before halftime.  However, while trailing 31-16 with 9:16 to go in the opening 20 minutes, the Knights held the Seahawks to only five points the rest of the half but missed out on a golden opportunity as they managed to score only four points over the final 9:16 and entered halftime down 36-20. 
 
Wagner shot 46.7 percent (14-of-30) in the opening half and made 4-of-10 three's, while the Knights shot only 31.0 percent (9-of-29) and missed all four of their three-point attempts.  In the second half, FDU caught fire from the floor and connected on 60.0 percent (18-of-30) of its attempts to finish the game shooting 45.8 percent (27-of-59), but the Seahawks also shot the ball well in the second half (56.8 percent, 21-of-37) to finish the contest shooting 52.2 percent (35-of-67).  Wagner also made 6-of-18 three-pointers, and the Knights made only 1-of-8 for the game.  FDU did manage to make 15-of-19 free throws but could not take advantage of the Seahawks struggles at the line as the home team converted only 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from the charity stripe.  Defensive pressure by Wagner was the biggest story of the game.  The home team forced the Knights into 21 turnovers and scored 26 points as a result.  The Seahawks also registered 13 steals which led to 27 fast break points.  FDU scored only nine points off 10 turnovers by Wagner and only two fast break points.  The Knights did win the rebounding battle as they out-rebounded the Seahawks, 37-34.
 
Junior Melquan Bolding (Mt. Vernon, N.Y./Bishop Stepinac) led the Knights with 23 points (21 after halftime) on 7-of-17 shooting from the field and 8-of-8 shooting from the free throw line.  He also dished out a career-high six assists.  Junior Kinu Rochford (Brooklyn, N.Y./James Madison) added a career-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.  Graduate student George Goode (Raytown, MO/Raytown South) scored 12 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, while senior Briahn Smith (Detroit, MI/Madison) chipped in 10 points.
 
Scouting LIU Brooklyn: The Blackbirds (21-7, 15-1 NEC), who were picked to repeat as champions of the NEC, come into Thursday's contest on a seven-game win streak and have won 15 of their last 16 contests.  The lone blemish is a 75-66 loss at Robert Morris for their only conference loss.  LIU started off the season 0-3 before winning five of its next six games.  The Blackbirds and Knights played four common non-conference opponents earlier in the season (Vermont, Lafayette, Columbia and NJIT). LIU defeated every team but Columbia, while FDU fell to all six teams.
 
Junior forwards Julian Boyd and Jamal Olasewere lead the Blackbirds in both scoring at 17.2 points per game.  Boyd leads the team in rebounding at 9.3 rebounds per game and is shooting 53.8 percent (162-of-301) from the field.  Olasewere is the team's second-leading rebounder at 7.6 rebounds per game and leads the team in field goal percentage (57.4 percent, 166-of-289), blocks (30) and steals (40).  Junior guard C.J. Garner is the third and final Blackbird averaging double-figures at 12.3 points per game and is shooting 80.2 percent (105-of-131) from the free throw line.  Senior guard Michael Culpo just misses double-figures in scoring as he is averaging 9.7 points per game, while shooting 38.5 percent (60-of-154) from three-point range. Sophomore guard Jason Brickman averages 9.1 points per game, is shooting 44.1 percent (45-of-102) from behind the arc and has dished out 196 assists (7.0 apg).
 
All-Time Series: This will be the 93rd meeting between the two NYC area schools which dates back to the 1950-51 season.  Both teams have played each other at least once since the 1957-58 season. The Knights lead the all-time series, 47-45, and are 23-20 at home.  The Blackbirds have won eight consecutive games in the series after winning easily last month in Brooklyn, NY, 82-64.  The Knights last won during the teams' first of two meetings during the 2006-07 season, 74-73. FDU had won 10 straight in the series and 19 of 21 games against LIU dating back to the 1997-98 season prior to the current eight-game losing streak to the Blackbirds.