MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team dropped its Northeast Conference opener 69-62 at Robert Morris on Thursday night.
True to form, the Knights, who entered the game ranked inside the nation's top-30 in steals, forced 24 turnovers but uncharacteristically turned the ball over 22 times themselves in the loss.
Senior forward
Mike Holloway Jr. scored a team-high 18 points for the Knights (5-8, 0-1 NEC), while sophomore guard
Jahlil Jenkins added 17 points with three assists, two rebounds and two steals.
The loss marks the first in an NEC opener for Fairleigh Dickinson head coach
Greg Herenda, who entered the night with a 5-0 record.
The Colonials (6-8, 1-0 NEC) logged four players in double figures, led by Matty McConnell and Charles Bain, who scored 15 apiece and combined to hit 9-of-11 from the field. The home team also shot 55.8 percent overall in the contest and outrebounded the Knights 27-24.
"It was a difficult night for us on both ends of the floor and Robert Morris was just a little more solid team tonight for the entire 40 minutes," said Herenda after the loss. "Other than turning them over, we did not do a good job protecting our paint and ultimately that is what beat us. Conference road wins are very hard to come by and you cannot turn the ball over. We just never took care of it all night."
The teams exchanged leads throughout the opening stanza but each time the Knights appeared to gain momentum, the Colonials would answer with a bucket.
The host Colonials eventually stretched their first-half lead to seven, 24-17, after a jumper by Chris Coalmon, however, the Knights would answer right back with pair of layups by Jenkins and
Elyjah Williams. Williams finished with six points and a team-high eight caroms.
The see-saw first half concluded with the Colonials leading by a bucket, 33-31. The Knights' propensity to steal the basketball was front-and-center as they nabbed eight steals and forced 14 turnovers across the first 20 minutes of action.
Jenkins made 4-of-6 from the field and led the Burgundy and Blue with 10 points, two assists and two steals at the break, while
Kaleb Bishop and Williams each scored six. Bishop tallied 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting in his 17 minutes of action but was forced to leave early in the second half with an injury.
Yannis Mendy topped all scorers with 11 points in the half on 5-of-7 shooting as the Colonials shot 63.6 percent overall.
Trailing 59-50 with 5:21 to go, the Knights mounted a comeback by scoring seven straight points. Jenkins capped the run with a smooth layup off of a feed from classmate
Tyler Jones. With the Knights playing without starting guard,
Xzavier Malone-Key, Jones logged a career-high 21 minutes and finished with a team-best four takeaways.
Jenkins' bucket fell with 3:58 to play but the Knights were only able to muster five more points over the remainder of the contest as the Colonials secured the conference-opening win.
In the loss the Knights, who average nearly eight made 3-pointers per game, were limited to just 3-of-11 from behind the arc as 46 of their 62 points came in the paint.
Herenda concluded, "Now we have to regroup and get ready for Saturday night -- and we will. Every night is going to be a dog fight and we will respond. This is conference play and no one is going to hand you anything."
The NEC opening road trip continues for the Knights as they square off with Saint Francis U this Saturday, January 5. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. in Loretto, Pa.
