HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team had another huge offensive output on Saturday as they blew past Kean University 94-55 at the Rothman Center.
 
Darnell Edge topped the Knights' scoresheet with 18 points and had a career-high seven steals. Edge's steal total is the most by a Knight since Sean Baptiste totaled seven on January 10, 2009 against CCSU.
 
The defensive performance by the Knights' junior guard helped the home team force 31 Kean turnovers. The 19 steals by the Knights are the most in program history, while the 31 miscues are the most by a Knights opponent in the Stat Crew-era (1997-Present.)
 
Over the last two outings, the Knights have amassed 206 points, which is the highest back-to-back total in program history.
 
Freshman guard Jahlil Jenkins once again filled up the box score with 11 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Jenkins has dished out at least four assists in every game this season and is averaging six per game through his first four with the Knights.
 
In 20 minutes of action, Mike Holloway Jr. totaled 17 points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Darian Anderson tallied 10 points, four assists and four steals in his 17 minutes of court time. Anderson, who has 174 career steals, is just two away from second most in school history.
 
Following the win, head coach Greg Herenda spoke, "Give Kean a ton of credit – they played very hard and defensively came at us all day long but early, Darnell and Mike were able to set the tone offensively."
 
Herenda continued, "I really like how we came out and defended and rebounded in the second half. Again, I cannot say enough about how we share the ball – that is a truly telling stat about the character of our team."
 
The Knights out-rebounded the Cougars 44-30 and logged 21 assists in the victory.
 
After a 4-for-8 start from behind the arc, the Cougars held a 20-15 lead midway through the first stanza.  Junior guard Micah Kerr led the hot start with seven points and two rebounds during that span. Kerr finished with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting.
 
The Knights quickly erased the deficit with a 11-0 run, highlighted by Noah Morgan's five points. Morgan hit a midrange jumper and then rose up and knocked down a 3-pointer off of a feed from Anderson. The Knights connected on all five field goals over the course of the run and led 26-20 with 7:47 to go in the half.
 
Over the final five minutes of the half, the Knights outscored the Cougars 20-4 and led by 20 points, 50-30 at intermission. The Knights forced 15 turnovers in the first half and offensively, Edge and Holloway led the way with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
 
In 12 minutes of first half action, Anderson totaled eight points, four rebounds and three steals as the Knights shot 51.4 percent (19-of-37) from the field and limited the Cougars to 39.4 percent (13-of-33).
 
A 25-4 stretch to begin the second half saw the Knights hold the Cougars to a 1-for-7 start and force 11 turnovers as the lead ballooned to 41, 75-34 at the under-12 media timeout.
 
Jenkins tallied nine points over that stretch, which was highlighted by a junior forward Nadi Beciri's double-pump dunk, which finalized the run. Beciri was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and finished with six points.
 
Freshman guard Tyler Jones made his debut with the Knights and connected on his first shot – a corner 3-pointer, which pushed the Knights' lead to 80-40 with just under 10 minutes to go.
 
Another Beciri dunk resulted in the Knights' largest cushion of the game, 44 points (87-43), with 7:28 to go.
 
The Knights maintained their comfortable cushion as Herenda went to his bench. All 14 active players checked in for the Knights and 11 of them scored at least two points.
 
"Now we look ahead to two very prestigious programs coming to the Rothman Center in Holy Cross and Princeton. They are two teams that are very well coached and have very skilled players. It's almost like an old-school holiday tournament – I cannot wait."
 
The Knights host the Crusaders of Holy Cross next Wednesday, November 22 at the Rothman Center. The game will immediately follow the FDU women's game against Colgate, which tips at noon.