FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team's five-game winning streak came to an end on Thursday night as they fell to Sacred Heart 69-63 at the Pitt Center.
 
For just the fourth time this season, the Knights (11-12, 6-5 NEC) were held to two scorers in double figures. Senior forward Mike Holloway Jr., who grabbed his 700^th career rebound in the loss, finished with a team-high 13 points and went 6-for-6 at the line.
 
Sophomore guard Xzavier Malone-Key tallied 11 points, while junior forward Kaleb Bishop scored nine points with eight rebounds.
 
The Knights trailed by just two points in the final minute but the Pioneers (11-13, 7-4 NEC) were able to close the game out at the free throw line.
 
With the win, the Pioneers improved to 6-0 at home in NEC play and 8-1 overall inside the Pitt Center. Kinnon LaRose's 16 points led the way, while Koreem Ozier scored 14 points with nine rebounds and E.J. Anosike added 12 points and seven boards for the home team.
 
In the loss, the Knights, who lead the NEC in field goal percentage, were held to 34.4 percent overall but connected on 9-of-20 (45 percent) from behind the arc. Freshman guard Brandon Powell drained 2-of-3 from long range and set his career-high with six points in the loss, while senior guard Darnell Edge filled up the box score with seven points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals. 

Following the game, head coach Greg Herenda said, "We were just not in sync offensively the entire night. For the most part, I was very happy with our defensive intensity and execution but we need to execute on both ends of the floor. To win conference road games, you need to do a number of things on the offensive end -- we needed to get better shots and be aggressive taking those shots and tonight we were not. The difference between winning and losing in this league is minimal and tonight we just did not do the little things well enough to win on the road."
 
With a 5-for-23 start, the Knights trailed 23-15 at the under-eight minute media time out of the opening half. The Pioneers connected five of their first 10 from downtown and Sean Hoehn netted seven points over that span.
 
The Knights would make just one of their next eight shots as Oscar Okeke ended the drought with a baby hookshot inside the paint.
 
Despite the cold shooting, the Knights weathered the storm by locking in defensively and only trailed by six, 25-19, with four minutes to play in the stanza.
 
The Knights entered the locker room with just eight made field goals on 23.5 percent shooting but down just 29-25. Holloway Jr. scored nine points on 2-of-7 shooting to top the box score for the Burgundy and Blue, while Malone-Key netted six points with three rebounds and two assists in the half.
 
The Pioneers shot 38.7 percent in the half with Aaron Clarke's eight points leading the way.
 
Out of the break, both teams picked up the pace offensively but the Pioneers established their largest lead of the game, 47-39, with under 14 to play.
 
The Knights chipped away and closed to within two, 55-53, after Bishop drained a 3-pointer at the 7:05 mark. Less than two minutes later, Bishop would tie the game by finishing a layup off of a feed from Edge. 
 
Trailing by two with under two minutes remaining, Jahlil Jenkins coasted to the rim for a layup to tie the game at 59 aside.
 
With 31 seconds to go, the Knights would again find themselves down by a bucket but the Pioneers broke the full-court press and netted a La Rose layup at the offensive end of the floor. LaRose drained all four of his free throws in the final minute as the Pioneers secured the win.

Holloway's milestone rebound came on his first carom of the game. The senior forward now ranks seventh all-time on Fairleigh Dickinson's rebounding list and is 12^th on the school's scoring list with 1,137 career points.
 
The Knights return to action this Saturday, February 9 when they visit St. Francis Brooklyn. Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m. at the Pope Center.