FAIRFIELD, Conn. –  The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaker to Sacred Heart, falling 66-65 at the William H. Pitt Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Knights (4-9, 1-1 NEC) led by one in the final minute before the Pioneers held possession under their own basket with 5.9 seconds remaining. On the ensuing possession, Sacred Heart's Mario Matasovic drove to the hoop and lofted a floater, which was offline, however, the officials ruled Mike Holloway Jr. goaltended the shot by making contact with the backboard and awarded the go-ahead basket to the Pioneers.
 
The Knights had one final attempt but needed to go the distance of the court with 2.8 seconds remaining. Holloway found Darian Anderson, who fired an off-balance 25-footer, which caromed off of the back of the rim as the final horn sounded.
 
Anderson finished with a full stat line of 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals in the loss and moved into ninth-place on the Knights' all-time scoring list passing Ken Webb. The senior guard now has 1,486 career points across his time at FDU.
 
Four Knights scored in double figures in the loss with Holloway., Darnell Edge, Noah Morgan, and Jahlil Jenkins all finishing with 10. Holloway added eight rebounds to his ledger, while Morgan had five rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
 
The Pioneers' advantage on the glass was the key as they won the rebounding battle 49-33. Redshirt sophomore Kinnon LaRose spearheaded the attack for Sacred Heart by scoring 24 points – 16 in the second half – on 9-of-14 shooting and 6-of-9 from behind the arc. Matasovic and Joseph Lopez each scored 15 for Sacred Heart, who shot 41 percent in the game and overcame 17 turnovers to get the win.
 
The Knights shot 40.4 percent overall but struggled to connect from three-point range as they made 6-of-24 (24 percent) from behind the arc.
 
Aided by six points from Lopez, the Pioneers jumped out to an 11-6 lead at the first media timeout. The Knights would pull ahead 14-13 after a layup by Morgan at the 11:21 mark and the game remained tight for the duration of the opening stanza before entering the break deadlocked at 30-all.
 
The Knights forced nine first-half turnovers by the Pioneers and shot 35.7 percent from the floor. Morgan led all scorers at the break with 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting, grabbed three rebounds, nabbed two steals and had a block.
 
The Pioneers dominated on the glass in the first half, doubling up the Knights 26-13, including seven offensive boards. Junior guard Sean Hoehn led the rebounding effort with five first-half rebounds to go along with three assists, while Lopez scored nine to top the Pioneers' stat sheet.
 
A 10-4 spurt at the midpoint of the second half, highlighted by a corner three-pointer by Darian Anderson gave the Knights their first double-digit lead of the game, 53-42 with 9:32 to play.
 
LaRose sparked a 12-3 run by the Pioneers with a pair of threes and an offensive rebound putback off of a missed free throw to cut the Knights' edge to 58-56 with under six minutes to go.
 
Again, it would be Anderson to answer the bell for the Knights as the senior guard temporarily stifled the Pioneers' momentum by burying a difficult three-pointer with the shot clock winding down. Anderson's trey made it a 61-56 FDU lead with 5:14 remaining.
 
Leading 63-61 in the final two minutes, Holloway grabbed a huge offensive rebound and dropped it in, however, LaRose answered with his sixth trifecta of the game to make it a 65-64 FDU lead with 52.6 to go.
 
After an FDU turnover, the Pioneers nearly lost possession but retained it under their own basket with 5.9 seconds on the clock.

Next up for FDU is its first home game since November 26 as they welcome Central Connecticut State to the Rothman Center next Thursday, January 4 at 7:00 p.m.