HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team opened 2018 with a victory by topping Central Connecticut State 81-77 at the Rothman Center on Thursday night.
 
Reigning Northeast Conference Rookie of the Week Noah Morgan led the charge for the Knights (5-9, 2-1 NEC), who improve to 4-1 inside the Rothman this season. Morgan poured in a team-high 21 points on 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) shooting and grabbed six rebounds, nabbed two steals and blocked a shot in the victory.

Fellow freshman Jahlil Jenkins enjoyed a full stat line with 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals, while senior guard Darian Anderson scored 14 with five rebounds, four assists and four steals.
 
Playing their first game at the Rothman Center since November 26, the Knights were down by 12 in the second half before a 19-6 run, which spanned nearly ten minutes, put them in front by one and they never trailed again.
 
Defensive pressure was the key again for FDU, who entered the game 14^th in the nation in forcing turnovers and did not disappoint on Thursday. The Knights turned the Blue Devils (8-8, 1-2 NEC) over 22 times, while committing just seven miscues of their own. In addition, the Knights upped their 9.1 steals per game rate by grabbing 13 in the win.
 
Following his team's win, head coach Greg Herenda spoke, "We just found a way to hang around tonight and somehow we found a way to come away with a win. My guys never ever give up -- they just keep on competing and that's why I love these guys."

Herenda continued, "The key to tonight was that we won the turnover battle and had 13 steals. We just need to be more solid defensively but Central has a number of really good offensive options."

CCSU came out of the gates blazing with a 59.3 percent first-half shooting effort but cooled to 41.4 percent in the second half. The Knights followed a 38.9 percent first-half performance with a 50 percent clip in the second stanza.
 
FDU struggled to contain CCSU sophomore forward Joe Hugley, who made his third start of the season for the Blue Devils and hit the ground running. Hugley drained three shots from downtown in the first half and went into the locker room with 16 points and six rebounds.
 
Hugley finished with a game-high 33 points and earned a double-double by corralling 12 rebounds. Although, the sophomore forward poured in the game-high point total, the Knights also forced him to commit seven turnovers on the night.
 
Despite their red-hot shooting performance in the first half, the Blue Devils only led by three at the break, 41-38, after Anderson capped the first 20 minutes with a three-pointer.
 
Morgan paced the Knights at the break with 11 points and five boards, while Anderson scored eight in the period. Each team knocked down four trifectas in the opening half and finished with seven in the contest with the Knights attempting 21 and the Blue Devils firing up 19 from behind the arc.
 
After the Knights closed to within one, 48-47, early in the second half, the Blue Devils countered with a 13-2 run over the next four minutes. Three of the Knights' seven turnovers occurred over that stretch and Hugley poured in nine for CCSU.
 
Trailing 61-49, the Knights buckled down and forced 10 CCSU turnovers over the game-changing 19-6 run. Freshman forward Elyjah Williams started the turnaround with a layup off of a Jenkins assist. Williams returned the favor by setting up Jenkins, who set his feet and buried an open three-pointer to tie the game at 67-67 with 3:33 to go.
 
The Knights took their first lead thanks to a pair of free throws by Morgan and after a layup by Hugley briefly tied the game, Jenkins responded with four straight, including a silky floater in the lane to put the Knights on top for good.
 
Three Blue Devils scored in double figures in the loss led by the aforementioned Hugley as Deion Bute scored 12 and Mustafa Jones finished with 10.
 
Junior forward Mike Holloway Jr. was the fourth Knight to reach double-digit scoring by totaling 11 points and four rebounds in 22 minutes of action.

"At the end of the day, we won a hard-fought home game and our last home game was well over a month ago. Now we are onto Wagner," Herenda concluded.
 
The Knights return to the road for their next NEC matchup as they travel to Staten Island to take on Wagner this Saturday, January 6. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. at the Spiro Sports Center.