Box Score

FAIRFIELD, Conn.. -- The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team let a second-half lead slip away before falling to Sacred Heart, 71-67, on Saturday at the William H. Pitt Center. With the victory, the Pioneers improve to 4-13 (1-1 NEC) on the season, while the Knights fall to 5-11 (1-1 NEC) overall.

"That was a tough competitive road game, and we just didn't do enough to finish the job," Head Coach Greg Herenda said.

FDU led the first 30 minutes of the contest until Sacred Heart fought back to knot the game at 57-57 with 9:17 remaining in the game.

Both sides would take turns exchanging the lead, and the Pioneers controlled the advantage for good after taking a 62-61 lead at the 7:15 mark.

Two minutes later, with 5:15 to go, the turning point of the game occurred, as the Knights' bench was whistled for a technical foul after a personal foul was called on FDU. Sacred Heart then sank four consecutive free throws to extend its lead to 66-61.

After finding themselves down six, the Knights fought back and trimmed the deficit to 69-67 on a 20-foot shot from senior Sidney Sanders Jr. (Charleston, S.C./Burke) with the shot clock winding down at the 2:44 mark.

FDU was able to force a turnover, and Sanders Jr. drew a foul with 1:45 to go, but he missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

The Knights could not get a rebound on the Pioneers next possession, as the home team collected two on the offensive glass. With seven seconds left on the shot clock and 19 seconds on the game clock, FDU was whistled for a foul, and Sacred Heart's Chris Evans sank both freebies to seal the victory

 "We did not get any critical rebounds when we needed them," Herenda said. "If we did, the outcome probably would have been different."

FDU cooled off considerably in the second half (32.3 percent, 10-of-21, 1-of-8 from three) after knocking down 48 percent (12-of-25) of its shots over the opening 20 minutes, including 7-of-11 from behind-the-arc. The Knights finished at 39.3 percent (22-of-56) from the floor, 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from distance and 75 percent (15-of-20) at the free throw line.

The FDU defense held the Pioneers to 33.9 percent (21-of-62) and 5-of-14 from three-point range, but Sacred Heart cashed in at the charity stripe, as it connected on 24-of-27 (88.9 percent), including 14-of-15 in the second half.

The Knights also turned the ball over 12 times, compared to the Pioneers' nine, and Sacred Heart won the rebounding battle, 44-36.

FDU jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead in the first two minutes, but the Pioneers came back and cut the Knights' lead to 15-14 at the 12:06 mark of the opening half.

After the second media timeout, FDU used a 10-2 run, capped by a Sanders Jr. old-fashion three-point play, that extended its advantage to 25-16 with 8:59 remaining before halftime.

Still leading by nine at 31-22, the Knights allowed Sacred Heart to score seven unanswered, which cut the margin to 31-29 at the 5:39 mark.

But FDU responded with the next five points to extend its lead back to seven. Junior Mustafaa Jones (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti)' three-pointer in the final minute of the half gave the Knights a 40-34 halftime lead.

Nearly three and a half minutes into the second half, freshman Scott Kingsley (Chicago, Ill./St. Rita of Cascia)'s bucket from distance put FDU back up nine at 47-38.

After the Pioneers scored six in a row to slice the Knights' advantage to three, FDU came right back and widened the gap back to nine points after sophomore Xavier Harris (Philadelphia, Pa./Constitution)' three-point play made it 53-44 at the 13:49 mark.

Sacred Heart then made its move and went on a 14-4 run over the next 5:06 to establish its first lead of the game, 58-57, with 8:39 to go in the game.

Sanders Jr. paced the Knights with a game-high 19 points, a team-best seven rebounds and a game-high six assists. Freshman Matt MacDonald (Buffalo, N.Y./Canisius) and graduate student Scooter Gillette (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) both added 13 points.

Louis Montes' double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds) led the Pioneers. Steve Glowiak added 13 points, while De'von Barnett and Mostafa Abdel Latif each chipped in 10 points.

"We need to get some rest and get ready for next week, and we will," Herenda said.

FDU will look to rebound on the road against LIU Brooklyn on Thursday, Jan. 16, with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.