Box Score

HACKENSACK, N.J. – Sophomore Marques Townes (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph (Metuchen)) cut to the basket and banked in a layup with 5.5 seconds remaining to give the Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team a 69-68 victory over Towson on Friday night at Stratis Arena.  The Knights improve to 4-6 on the season, while Towson falls to 7-4.

The Knights trailed 67-61 with 2:21 left to play, but erased the six point deficit with an 8-1 run to close the game.

A jumper by freshman Mike Holloway (Pittsgrove, N.J./Arthur P. Schalick ) was answered with a Towson free throw that made it a 68-63 game with 1:44 left to play.  Townes hit two free throws with 1:32 left to cut the deficit to three and a layup by sophomore Stephan Jiggetts (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) with 54 seconds remaining  made it a one point game.  Sophomore Earl Potts Jr. (Severn, Md./Archbishop Spalding ) recorded a steal on the ensuing Towson possession to setup the Knights' final possession.  On the final possession, after two perimeter passes, Townes cut down the lane and laid the ball in off the glass for the winning score.

"That was a quality win, over a quality opponent," head coach Greg Herenda said after the game.  "We had so much respect for Towson going into this game, but we just do not give up."
 
"All three of our freshmen really kept us in the game. Malik Miller (Troy, N.Y./Catholic Central ), Mike Holloway (Pittsgrove, N.J./Arthur P. Schalick ) and Darnell Edge (Saugerties, N.Y./Saugerties) all stepped up and made their bones tonight.  That is a great sign for the future of this program. I am surrounded by freshmen and sophomores and I love it."

Five players finished in double figures for the Knights including a team-high 12 points for freshman Malik Miller (Troy, N.Y./Catholic Central ).  Sophomore Darian Anderson (Washington, D.C./St. John's College ) finished with 11 points and Jiggetts, Potts and Holloway each had 10.

Towson led by as many as eight points, but the Knights battled back and tied the game, 33-33, on a jumper by Anderson just before the first half buzzer.  Anderson created his own scoring chance with a steal on the defensive end.

The Tigers led by eight points late in the game, grabbing a 65-57 lead with 3:54 left to play, after an 8-0 run.  The Knights had worked back to tie the game at 57-57 with a layup by freshman Darnell Edge (Saugerties, N.Y./Saugerties), a free throw by Potts and a jumper by freshman Ghassan Nehme (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain).

Townes finished with just six points, but all of them came in the final 3:30 of regulation.

The Knights shot just 35.9% (23-of-64) from the floor, but FDU secured 18 offensive rebounds to score 15 second chance points.

The Knights were strong at the free throw line, connecting on 78.3% (18-of-23) of attempts.

FDU committed just nine turnovers, compared to 16 for the Tigers.  The Knights scored 22 points off the turnovers and also held a 22-13 advantage in points off the bench. 

The victory gives the Knights one-point victories over Towson in consecutive seasons.   Townes also connected on the winning basket last season, an overtime layup giving FDU an 85-84 win.  Towson had won six straight games before falling to FDU.

The Knights will return to action on Wednesday, December 23 against intrastate rival Rutgers.

"Now it's off to Rutgers where we have another big challenge in front of us. It's our last exam before Christmas and we still have some studying to do," Herenda added.