HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team rolled in their 2016-17 home opener, defeating Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham Campus 96-48 on Tuesday night at Stratis Arena inside the Rothman Center.
 
Sophomore forward Mike Holloway paced the Knights with a career-high 25 points on an incredibly efficient 12-for-14 (85.7%) from the field. The second-year big man also added eight boards to his ledger in the victory. Holloway did his work in just 17 minutes of court time.
 
The Knights of the Metropolitan Campus led wire-to-wire and built their lead as large as 50 points in the second half, as they improved to 4-0 in the all-time series against the NCAA Division III Florham Campus and 1-1 on the season.
 
At halftime, the athletic department unveiled the Knights' 2016 NEC Championship and NCAA Tournament banners. University president Christopher Capuano was on hand for the festivities as he and Metropolitan Campus provost Robert Vodde helped unfurl the banner from above the crowd.

Following the victory head coach Greg Herenda spoke, "We say it a lot but it was truly a great night to be a Knight! To hang an NEC and NCAA banner in the Rothman Center was very special for our entire basketball program and University. Our players deserved to be honored in that fashion." 

Herenda continued, "As far as the game is concerned, I was so proud of our defensive effort throughout the entire game. Individually, you have to begin and end with Mike Holloway. He was immense on the offensive end of the floor and Darian was extremely efficient. On top of our regulars, I was really happy with our bench, especially Kaleb and Nadi. Overall it was a very solid team victory and a tremendous defensive effort for 40 minutes."
 
Holloway wasted no time going to work on the Devils' frontcourt, notching 10 points in the game's first 4:30, including a pair of two-handed dunks.
 
The Knights knocked down 10 of their first 15 shots en route to a 22-6 lead. Over that stretch, their swarming defense forced five turnovers and limited the Devils to just 15.4 percent shooting.
 
With the pace of the game heavily in the Knights' favor, the home team continued their dominance as they extended their lead to 48-22 at the break.
 
In his 12 minutes of first half action, Holloway tallied 20 points and seven rebounds on 10-for-11 from the field.
 
The Knights used their size and athleticism to dominate on the glass with a 27-15 rebounding advantage over the first 20 minutes of play. Offensively, the Knights shot 60 percent from the field, while holding the Devils to 25.8 percent on eight made baskets.
 
Darian Anderson opened the second half with his second four-point play in as many games, which extended the Knights' lead to 30, 52-22. Holloway promptly followed with an emphatic dunk off of a feed from Stephan Jiggetts and the Knights were off and running again. With the slam, Holloway eclipsed his previous career-high of 21 points.
 
Anderson made the most of his 23 minutes of action, tallying 19 points on 7-of-8 (87.5%) shooting.
 
The Knights tallied the first eight points of the half before Darren Davy stopped the spurt by knocking down a jumper from the top of the key. Davy led the Devils (0-1) with nine points and five rebounds.
 
Over the next five minutes, the Knights carried out a 24-4 run before eventually building their largest lead of the game to 50 points, 80-30, with 11:14 to go.
 
In his second game with the Knights, sophomore Nadi Beciri reached double figures for the first time in his young career with 13 points and six rebounds in his 10 minutes of action.
 
All 12 members of the Knights played, including junior walk-on Ashton Malone-Dunson, who made his collegiate debut.
 
The Knights return to action this Friday as they set off on a three-game, three-day stretch at the Johnny Bach Classic at historic Rose Hill Gymnasium on the campus of Fordham University. The Knights open with the host Rams on Friday night, November 18 at 6 p.m.