Box Score SMITHFIELD, R.I. - The FDU Knights men's basketball team fell to 7-8 overall and 2-2 in the Northeast Conference, falling to Bryant 73-60 Saturday evening. The victory improves the Bulldogs to 6-7 overall and 2-1 in league play.
"You have to give credit to Bryant - they were very consistent defensively and on both backboards all night long. You just cannot go into long droughts without scoring on the road." Head Coach
Greg Herenda said.
FDU jumped out to an early 10-4 (14:54) lead but the Bulldogs rallied back by rattling off 20 unanswered points over the next six minutes of play that launched them into the lead (24-10), which they would not surrender, taking a 40-23 lead into halftime.
In the second stanza, the Knights cut the Bulldogs' lead to 11 (47-36) with 13:06 to play but Bryant responded with nine unanswered points over the next 3:00 resulting in its largest lead of the game (56-36). Led by
Marques Townes (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph (Metuchen))' 10 points in the second half, the Knights again chipped away at the Bryant lead cutting the margin to 12 (69-57) with 1:08 to play before time expired.
"In the second half, we play very, very hard defensively and we finally got into an offensive rhythm. We competed on every possession but we just were not able to get over the hump today." Herenda said.
In a game that saw 47 fouls called, Bryant shot 27-of-38 (71.1%) from the line and 39.2% (20-of-51) from the floor, while the Knights converted on 20 of 29 trips to the line and shot 32.7% (18-of-55) from the floor.
FDU was led by Townes who finished the evening with 15 points and freshman classmate Earl Potts, Jr. who rounded out the Knights scorers in double figures with 11 points.
Xavier Harris (Philadelphia, Pa./Constitution) finished the night with six points and team-best six rebounds.
"After opening up conference play with three out of four road games, we are 2-2." Herenda said, "Now we will get some rest and prepare for two home games next weekend."
The Knights will return to action on Thursday, Jan. 15, when they return to Stratis Arena to host NEC rival Mount St. Mary's.
