Box Score New York, NY -- The FDU men's basketball team fell to 2-2 on the year with a 57-47 loss at Columbia this evening in Levien Gym on the campus of Columbia. The victory pushes the Lions to 3-1 on the year.
"I am extremely proud of our defensive effort tonight but we need to find an offensive balance to go along with it," said Knight Head Coach
Greg Herenda. " Tonight, Xavier (Harris) and Darius (Stokes) were great inside and I know our perimeter guys will eventually step up and start knocking down shots. It's just a matter of putting it all together and we are right in the middle of that process. To be 2-2 after playing in three very diffucult buildings is a credit to this team."
Columbia took a 29-25 lead into the intermission but FDU opened the second half cutting the lead to 1 (34-33) with 15:59 to play. Columbia then went on a 6-0 run over the next minute of play to extend its lead to 7 (40-33) before FDU responded with a 6-0 run spanning nearly five minutes to again cut the lead to 1 (40-39) with 8:18 to play. The Lions then used a 10-2 run to extend their lead to 9 (50-41) with 2:48 to play and concluded the game going 5-5 from the line with one field goal to secure the win.
The Knights were led by Junior
Xavier Harris (Philadelphia, Pa./Constitution) who netted 10 of his team-best 12 points in the second half and also recorded a team-high 7 rebounds. Senior
Mustafaa Jones (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) and sophomore
Matt MacDonald (Buffalo, N.Y./Canisius) rounded out the Knights in double figures scoring 11 and 10, respectively.
FDU will return to action on Sunday, Nov. 30 as the Knights host Lafayette at 2 p.m. in the Rothman Center on the Metropolitan Campus.
