Box Score

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team fell to Hartford, 74-60, Friday night at Chase Family Arena. With the victory, the Hawks improve to 2-2 on the season, while the Knights fall to 1-2 overall.

The difference in the contest came at the free throw line, where Hartford outscored FDU, 18-1. The Hawks went to the charity stripe 25 times compared to only six trips for the Knights.

Hartford also drilled 10-of-20 from three-point range, while FDU made 7-of-17 from distance. Overall both sides connected above 50 percent from the floor, with the Knights shooting 55.3 percent (26-of-47) and the Hawks at 56.1 percent (23-of-41).

"We came out against a very good team and executed our offense and press, and we were in the driver's seat," Head Coach Greg Herenda said. "But give Hartford credit - they made crucial shots and kept their composure."

FDU opened the contest with eight unanswered points aided by its defensive pressure and eventually led 15-2 after freshman Malachi Nix (Evanston, Ill./Niles North) knocked down a three from the left wing with 15:10 remaining in the first half.

Another three from Nix, this time from the right wing, extended the lead back out to 13 at 20-7 with 12:26 left before halftime. But Hartford answered with an 8-0 run of its own to cut the deficit to 20-15 at the 8:53 mark.

The Knights responded with layups from graduate student Scooter Gillette (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) and senior Mathias Seilund (Dragoer, Denmark/Falkonergaardens Gymnasium) to extend the lead back out to nine at 24-15. However, the Hawks came flying back to end the half on a 16-5 spurt over the final 6:15 to take its first lead of the game, 31-29, at halftime.

FDU made 12 of its 21 shots over the first 20 minutes, including 4-of-9 from behind-the-arc, but Hartford shot 50 percent as well and outscored the Knights, 8-1, from the free throw line.

The first five minutes of the second half saw four ties, with the last coming at 38-38 after junior Mustafaa Jones (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) knocked down a three from the top of the key.

Trailing by four, FDU came back to cut the lead to one at 46-45 on a layup from Nix with 12:24 remaining in the contest.

The Hawks then scored the next seven points to open up an eight-point lead, before back-to-back layups from Seilund trimmed the deficit back to four at 53-49 with 9:39 left in the game.

Hartford quickly extended the lead back out to eight, but one more time the Knights fought back, as they cut the lead to 58-53 on a Jones' jumper at the 7:39 mark.

However, it was the closest FDU would come the rest of the way. The Hawks scored the next seven points en route to a 15-3 run to take their largest lead of the game before settling for the 74-60 victory.

Senior Sidney Sanders Jr. (Charleston, S.C./Burke) paced three double-digit scorers for the Knights with 13 points and a team-high four assists. Seilund added 11 points, a team-best five rebounds, two blocks and three steals, while Jones also netted 11 points, as he knocked down 3-of-5 from three-point land.

"I saw so many good things from our team tonight," Herenda said. "We are getting better on a daily basis - we just need to play 40 great minutes instead of 30."

Hartford's Preston Anderson led all scorers with 18 points. Mark Nwakamma added 14 points, with Wes Cole and Yasin Kolo chipping in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

FDU will return to action Monday, Nov. 18 when it faces No. 6/5 Arizona in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off in Tucson, Ariz. Tipoff is slated for 11 p.m. EST and will be televised nationally on ESPNU.