Box Score

NEWARK, N.J. -- Led by senior Sidney Sanders Jr. (Charleston, S.C./Burke) career day, the Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team upended in-state rival Seton Hall, 58-54, at the Prudential Center on Sunday. With the victory, the Knights improve to 3-6 on the season, while the Pirates fall to 4-3 overall.

Sanders Jr. just missed recording a triple-double after leading all scorers with a career-high 23 points to go along with a career-best nine rebounds, a game-high nine assists and three steals in front of a national television audience on Fox Sports 1.

With FDU leading 57-54, Sanders Jr. came up with his biggest rebound of the contest after sophomore Xavier Harris (Philadelphia, Pa./Constitution) missed a free throw with seven ticks left. The senior co-captain was then fouled and made the second of his two free throws to ice the game for the Knights, thus giving the program its second victory this week over a "big" school.

"We defended really, really well tonight, and we rebounded the ball," Head Coach Greg Herenda said. "If we continue to do those things, we will continue to win games. To beat both Rutgers and Seton Hall back-to-back is just huge for our program. Our guys now believe in themselves and how we are playing. It's great to see - I am so happy for each and every guy that put on a blue jersey."

After trailing 6-5 early on, the Knights used a 13-4 spurt, capped by a pair of free throws from Sanders Jr., to take their largest lead of the game at 18-10 with 10:33 to go before halftime.

Seton Hall then answered with a 12-5 run to cut FDU's advantage to one, but junior Mustafaa Jones (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti)' three-pointer from the left wing with 1:13 before the break gave the Knights a 26-22 halftime lead.

The Pirates opened the second half with five straight points to take their first lead since 6-5, but FDU quickly responded with seven unanswered points, as senior Mathias Seilund (Dragoer, Denmark/Falkonergaardens Gymnasium)'s trey ball from the top of the key gave the Knights a 33-27 lead with 16:37 remaining in the contest.

After Seton Hall scored six straight to knot the contest at 33-33, FDU outscored the Pirates, 13-5, with freshman Malachi Nix (Evanston, Ill./Niles North)'s floater in the lane giving the Knights a 46-38 lead with 8:53 to go.

But Seton Hall fought back and capitalized with an 11-2 run to retake the lead at 49-47 with 5:42 left in the contest.

Trailing 51-50, FDU took the lead for good at the 2:58 mark on Sanders Jr.'s layup. On their next possession, Sanders Jr. then found Seilund wide open in the left corner, and the senior co-captain calmly sunk the three-pointer to extend the Knights lead to 55-51 with 2:15 remaining.

With 74 seconds left on the clock, the Pirates' Jaren Sina drained a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 55-54, before FDU came up empty on its next possession.

Graduate student Scooter Gillette (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) then came up huge for the Knights on the defensive end. The 6-9 forward blocked Brandon Mobley's layup, and Sanders Jr. corralled the rebound before being fouled with 20 ticks left. He then sank both free throws to put FDU back up three at 57-54.

"Sid Sanders is playing as well as anyone I've been around in a long time," Herenda said. "On top of that, Scooter (Gillette) played like a Big East player today, and Mathias (Seilund) made two huge three's that basically won the game for us. It truly was a team effort for us today."

Seton Hall's Sterling Gibbs missed a potential game-tying three pointer with 10 seconds left, and Harris grabbed the rebound, setting up the 58-54 victory for the Knights.

Gillette added 15 points, six rebounds and a career-high four blocks, while Jones chipped in nine points for FDU.

The Knights shot 50 percent from the field in the second half to finish the game at 43.5 percent (20-of-46), including 5-of-14 from behind-the-arc. FDU also held Seton Hall to only 34.5 percent from the floor in the second half and only 37.7 percent (20-of-53) and 7-of-22 from three in the game.

Aided by Sanders Jr. 11-for-14 effort at the charity stripe, the Knights converted 13-of-20 free throws, as they outscored the Pirates (7-of-11) by six from the line, which proved to be the difference in the game.

For the first time this season, FDU won the rebounding battle after holding a 33-29 edge on the glass and also forced Seton Hall into 15 turnovers.

Fuquan Edwin led the Pirates with 16 points, with Brian Oliver adding 12. Mobley chipped in seven points and a team-best six rebounds.

The Knights will return to action Wednesday, Dec. 4 when they travel to Stony Brook, N.Y. to face Stony Brook. Tipoff on Long Island is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Knight Notes: The Knights came into the contest with a 3-17 record all-time against Seton Hall... FDU's last victory in the series before today came on Nov. 18, 2006, a 76-71 win... This is the first time in program history the Knights have defeated both Seton Hall and Rutgers in the same season... In three games this week, Sanders Jr. averaged 21.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game...