Box Score BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team fell to St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon at the Pope Physical Education Center. The Knights (12-11, 8-4 NEC) fell to the Terriers (10-15, 6-6 NEC) by a score of 85-71.
Sophomore
Marques Townes (Edison, N.J./St. Joseph (Metuchen)) led the Knights with 16 points. He also had seven rebounds and five steals in 31 minutes of action.
"St. Francis played great basketball and we just never got into any kind of offensive flow," head coach
Greg Herenda said after the contest. "Hats off to Glenn and his guys - they are very good in this building and played great."
"We actually played very good interior defense early in the game and they kicked it out and buried some really tough shots late in the clock. Overall, we split on the road against two really tough teams. Thursday night we made big plays and today we simply did not."
The Terriers used strong three-point shooting to take a 35-31 lead into halftime. St. Francis hit eight threes in the first half and connected on four in the second period to finish the day shooting 48% (12-of-25) from beyond the arc.
While St. Francis excelled from the outside, the Knights dominated in the paint with 32 points compared to 18 for the Terriers.
St. Francis took the lead for good on a three-pointer by Yunus Hopkinson with 15:43 left in the first half. The Terriers eventually opened up a 10 point lead at 28-18, but the Knights played well in the final minutes of the period to set the halftime score at 35-31.
The Terriers pulled away early in the second half by building a 12-point over the first five minutes. The Knights chipped away and cut the deficit to 54-50 with 9:52 left to play, but the 9-0 run was quickly countered by St. Francis.
Freshman
Mike Holloway (Pittsgrove, N.J./Arthur P. Schalick ) and sophomore
Stephan Jiggetts (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, to join Townes in double figures. Holloway was also credited with four rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal.
Townes (6-of-9) and Holloway (4-of-6) were both efficient shooting from the floor.
As a team the Knights shot 43.9% (25-of-57) from the field and were just 3-of-10 from beyond the arc.
St. Francis connected on 23-of-30 (76.7%) at the free throw line, including 18-of-24 in the second half. The Knights were 12-of-19 in the second period and 18-of-27 (66.7%) for the game.
With the loss the Knights fall into a tie with Wagner and Saint Francis U for first place in the NEC at 8-4.
The Knights return to action on February 11 at Bryant. FDU and the Bulldogs will tip-off at 9 p.m. at the Chace Athletic Center in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Fans can watch the game on MSG Network and Fox College Sports.
