Box Score

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Freshman Malachi Nix (Evanston, Ill./Niles North)'s two free throws with 3.4 seconds left propelled the Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team to an incredible 86-85 victory over St. Francis Brooklyn in Northeast Conference action at Stratis Arena on Thursday night. With the victory, the Knights match the last season's win total of seven and improve to 7-12 (3-2 NEC) on the season, while the Terriers fall to 12-8 (3-2 NEC) overall.

"I told Malachi (Nix) he had to earn his keep tonight, and he came up huge," Head Coach Greg Herenda said. "I am really happy for him. He had ice water in his veins."

The visitors opened up six-point lead on Jalen Cannon's drunk with 1:23 remaining in the contest, but junior Mustafaa Jones (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) drilled a three-pointer from the left wing with exactly one minute to go, which trimmed the deficit to 85-82, followed by FDU calling its final timeout.

Out of the timeout, senior Sidney Sanders Jr. (Charleston, S.C./Burke) picked off a pass and drove to the tin. At the time he was 3-of-18 from the field, but he converted the layup in traffic to make it an 85-84 game with 47 ticks left.

The Knights' defense forced a Terriers' turnover six seconds later, giving FDU a chance to take the lead.

With a little over 10 seconds to go, Sanders Jr. drove to the hoop but his layup went in and out, and he immediately fouled St. Francis
Brooklyn's Sheldon Hagigal with nine seconds remaining.

Hagigal missed both free throw attempts, and the 5-8 Nix leaped to grab the rebound. He then drove cross court to the left side and was fouled by Hagigal in front of the Knights' bench with 3.7 seconds left.

Nix calmly sunk the first free throw and the Terriers called their final timeout. After the 60-second break, Nix went back to the line and drained the second free throw to give FDU its first lead in nearly 16 minutes.

St. Francis Brooklyn was unable to attempt a final shot, and the Knights escaped with the thrilling come-from-behind victory.

"We talk a lot about perseverance, and tonight it really paid off," Herenda said. "We had our backs against the wall late, but we never quit. I am so proud of my entire team. St. Francis Brooklyn is a very good team, and we were fortunate to win."

The Terriers made their first 24 free throws of the game but only connected on 2-of-8 over the final 7:12, while FDU connected on 19-of-23 from the charity stripe.

Both sides shot over 50 percent from the field in the first half, and St. Francis Brooklyn finished right at 50 percent (26-of-52) for the game, including 7-of-14 from long distance (6-of-9 in the first half). The Knights finished at 46.8 percent (29-of-62) from the floor and 9-of-16 from three-point range (6-of-11 in the second half).

FDU took good care of the basketball, turning it over only seven times, and forced the Terriers into 16 miscues, with 12 coming from steals. The Knights outscored St. Francis Brooklyn, 23-11, in points-off-turnovers, but the visitors held a commanding 41-22 edge on the glass.

FDU led the majority of the first half and constructed a six-point lead at 20-14 on a tip-in from graduate student Scooter Gillette (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) at the 12:56 mark.

The Terriers fought back to cut the Knights' advantage to one, but a fastbreak layup from senior Mathias Seilund (Dragoer, Denmark/Falkonergaardens Gymnasium) triggered seven unanswered points, with Jones' trey ball in transition capping the spurt to produce FDU's largest lead of the game at 29-21 with 9:50 left before halftime.

St. Francis Brooklyn eventually caught the Knights on a three from Hagigal, which tied the game at 40-40 with 3:35 remaining in the first half. The visitors then took their first lead since being on top 5-2 when Ben Mockford drilled a shot from behind the arc to give the Terriers a 45-42 lead.

FDU scored the next four points to retake the lead, but Mockford knocked down another three with 30 ticks to go to give St. Francis Brooklyn a halftime lead of 48-46.

To start the second half, the Knights converted three buckets from long distance, with the last coming from Jones at the 16:54 mark, which gave FDU a 57-52 lead.

But the Terriers responded with nine unanswered points over the next 1:52 to go up 61-57.

On their next possession, the Knights made it a one-point game at 61-60 on Sanders Jr. three-point play, before a pair of free throws from Cannon capped a 14-3 run to put St. Francis Brooklyn ahead 65-60 with 13:35 to go.

A three-pointer from freshman Matt MacDonald (Buffalo, N.Y./Canisius) trimmed the deficit back to two, but the Terriers once again answered and extended their lead out to seven at 73-66 with 9:04 remaining.

Two free throws a piece from Sanders Jr. and Nix, coupled with a three-pointer from Seilund over the next 1:22, tied the game at 73-73, which would be the eighth tie of the contest.

St. Francis Brooklyn scored the next four, and a pair of free throws from Sanders Jr. once again placed FDU down one at 78-77 with 5:42 left.

The Terriers then scored seven of the next nine points over a 3:57 span, which gave them the 85-79 lead with 1:23 to go, before the Knights started their comeback.

FDU had six players score in double-figures, and Sanders Jr. led the way with 20 points, a team-best nine assists, a game-high and career-best four steals and only one turnover. Despite struggling from the field (4-of-20), the co-captain drained 12-of-13 free throws.

Seilund added 13 points (5-of-7 FG, 3-of-3 from long distance), grabbed four rebounds and swatted away a game high and a career-best three blocked shots, while Jones also netted 13 points (5-of-8 FG, 3-of-6 from long distance) and added three steals.

Gillette chipped in 12 points (5-of-6 FG) and a team-high six rebounds, and sophomore Kyle Pearson (Woodbridge, N.J./Woodbridge) came off the bench to also score a season-high 12 points (5-of-8 FG) and produce two steals. MacDonald finished with 10 points (4-of-7 FG, 2-of-3 from long distance) and three assists.

"Six players in double-figures says it all – it was about our team tonight," Herenda said.

Both Gillette and Seilund fouled out with significant time remaining, at 7:12 and 5:54, respectively, resulting in the Knights playing without their starting front court down the stretch.

Cannon, who scored his 1,000 career point in the game, led all scorers and rebounders with 23 points and 11 boards. Hagigal added 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench, while Mockford netted 16 points. Brent Jones dished out a game-high 10 assists.

FDU will return to NEC action on Saturday when it hosts Central Connecticut State at Stratis Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and follows the women's basketball game at 2 p.m.