Box Score HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team fell to Bryant on Monday night at Stratis Arena inside the Rothman Center by a score of 85-80. The Knights (5-8, 1-1 NEC) trailed by 15 at the half and were unable to comeback against the Bulldogs (5-10, 2-0 NEC) despite a strong second half surge.
"We just never really played our game tonight and Bryant had a lot to do with it," head coach
Greg Herenda said afterwards. "We were just a half step slow in the first half and we just dug too big of a hole."
Sophomore
Darian Anderson (Washington, D.C./St. John's College ) led the Knights with 23 points. Classmates
Earl Potts Jr. (Severn, Md./Archbishop Spalding ) and
Stephan Jiggetts (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) added 18 and 17, respectively. Potts also had a team-high six rebounds.
Anderson also had five assists in the contest.
Bryant's Marcel Pettway collected game-highs with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
Bryant led 45-30 at the half, but FDU was able to cut the deficit to single digits early in the second period and again in the final minute of regulation.
FDU opened the second half with a 13-7 run that cut Bryant's lead to 51-43. The run was capped by a dunk from Potts Jr who scored seven points during the stretch.
After a Bryant timeout, the Knights cut the deficit to six points on a jumper by Anderson and then, after a Bryant basket, sophomore
Marques Townes (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph (Metuchen)) connected on a three-pointer to make the score 53-48 with 14:23 left to play.
Following the Townes three, Bryant pulled away and maintained a double-digit lead until the final minute and a half of play. With 83 seconds left Anderson hit a jumper to make it a nine-point game and, after Bryant free throws, Jiggetts connected on a three-pointer to again make it a three-possession game. Jiggetts would hit another three-pointer, this time with 13 seconds remaining, to make the final score 85-80.
"I am very proud of our second half effort. We fought extremely hard and scored 50 points. We just needed to play that same way to the start the game," Herenda added.
FDU outscored Bryant 50-40 in the second half.
The Knights shot 40.8% (29-of-71) from the field, while Bryant connected at a 58.1% (25-of-43) clip. The Bulldogs and Knights each hit eight three-pointers in the game, but Bryant took just 14 three-pointers compared to 32 for FDU.The Knights return to action on Thursday, January 7 at Sacred Heart and then host Central Connecticut at Stratis Arena on Saturday, January 9. Both games can be seen live on NECFrontRow.com.
