CHICAGO, Ill. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team fell to DePaul 70-59 at Wintrust Arena on Friday night.
 
The Knights (1-1) led by one with 8:29 to go but the Blue Demons (3-0) scored 21 of the game's final 30 points to come away with the victory.
 
Junior point guard Jahlil Jenkins paced the Burgundy and Blue with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. In his return to his hometown, junior forward Elyjah Williams scored 12 points with eight rebounds and three assists, while senior forward Kaleb Bishop scored 12 with seven rebounds.
 
For DePaul, junior Charlie Moore poured in 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting and Paul Reed registered a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double.
 
The Knights outrebounded the Big East Blue Demons 34-33 in the contest but committed 21 turnovers, which turned into 19 points for the home team.

"I am very proud of my team -- we competed very hard all night long but we just did not take care of the ball well enough to win against a very tough DePaul team," said Greg Herenda after the game. "We came out and took the lead to start the second half but we just could not control Charlie Moore. Again, these games are great for our players and our program to improve and this game will help us down the road for sure."

On his own experience coaching in the Chicago area and the Evanston native Williams' return home, Herenda added, "I was so happy for Elyjah to come home and represent in front of his family, coaches and friends. I started my head coaching career up the road in Elgin so it was great to come back and perform well but the win was what we wanted and we just came up a little short."
 
The Knights jumped out to a six-point lead, 24-18, after freshman Daniel Rodriguez hit Williams for a layup, which proved to be their largest advantage of the game. The Blue Demons responded and eventually took a 26-24 edge with three minutes to play in the half.
 
The Burgundy and Blue were held scoreless over the final 1:40 of the stanza, which allowed the Blue Demons to carry a 34-28 lead into the locker room.
 
Jenkins and Williams paced the Knights through the first 20 minutes of action with nine and seven points, respectively as the team shot 37.5 percent overall from the field. The Blue Demons received 11 points from Moore and shot 42.3 percent overall. The Knights outrebounded the Blue Demons 20-18 in the stanza but turned the ball over 12 times compared to the home team's six miscues.
 
After a free throw for DePaul, the Knights responded with an 11-0 run highlighted by a two-handed breakaway slam by Bishop, which put his team on top 39-35 and forced a Blue Demon timeout. The home stormed back with a 7-0 burst and retook the lead, 40-39, with 14:24 to play.
 
The teams would exchange a pair of leads over the next seven minutes before the Blue Demons ultimately took control.
 
The Knights are back in action next Wednesday, November 13 when they travel to the Bronx to take on Fordham. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. at historic Rose Hill Gymnasium.