NEC Championship Game Highlights | NEC Front Row postgame show
LORETTO, Pa. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team captured its second Northeast Conference Championship in the last four years by defeating Saint Francis 85-76 at DeGol Arena on Tuesday night.
The Knights (20-13) are back in the NCAA Tournament for the second time since 2016 and the sixth time in program history.
All five Knights starters scored in double figures for the 11
th time this season led by senior guard and NEC Tournament MVP,
Darnell Edge's 21 points. Junior
Kaleb Bishop amassed his second double-double of the season with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 11 rebounds. Sophomore
Jahlil Jenkins poured in 20 points, classmate
Elyjah Williams scored 12 points with four blocked shots and senior
Mike Holloway Jr. netted 12 points with a career-high five assists.
The starting five also scored all 85 of the Knights' points in the win. As a team, the Knights shot a season-high 63.8 percent from the field, 7-of-13 from three-point range and drained 18-of-20 at the line. At the defensive end, the Burgundy and Blue blocked eight shots -- their second-highest output this season.
With the win, the Knights extended their winning streak to eight and have now won 14 of their last 16 games. Five of the team's six NEC Championships have now come as the No. 2 seed.
In the loss, the top-seeded Red Flash (18-14) shot 48 percent overall but just 4-of-17 from the free throw line. Jamaal King scored 21 points, while reigning NEC Player of the Year, Keith Braxton totaled 10 points with 12 rebounds and four assists.
In his postgame press conference, head coach
Greg Herenda said, "First of all, Saint Francis is a very good team and are so well coached. We had to defend so hard for 40 minutes to pull this off in their arena. That was a tremendous atmosphere, they have tremendous scorers, 1,000-point scorers, the player of the year, that is a good team that we beat. Just very proud of my guys to have the fortitude to withstand this team, this crowd to go on the road and win another title. We found a way to win tonight over a great team, we started 1-4 in the conference and just found a way to come together and win 14 of the last 16, that is a tribute to these two seniors, they book-ended their careers with championships. This is big for them, big for us, big for the Fairleigh Dickinson family, it's on our shirts, its been that way since I got here. We're family, we are all family and family won today."
The Red Flash opened the game on an 11-2 run but the Knights answered with nine straight points to tie the game at the 14-minute mark of the first half.
Edge gave the Knights their first lead of the game with a smooth finger roll at the 11:40 mark and then knocked down a corner 3-pointer on the next possession to make it an 18-13 lead.
Bishop scored 10 of the Knights' first 23 points by connecting on his first four shots – including a pair of 3-pointers – as the Burgundy and Blue led 23-21 with 8:05 to play in the half. As a team, the Knights made nine of their first 15 from the field. Seven of those nine field goals were assisted.
A 9-2 burst by the Knights, highlighted by a reverse layup from Edge, extended their lead to 32-25 at the 5:03 mark of the stanza.
The Knights carried a 40-31 lead into the locker room as Bishop put an exclamation point on the first-half scoring with a baseline slam. Once the dust settled, the Burgundy and Blue had registered a 63 percent (17-of-27) effort from the field.
Bishop converted 5-of-6 in the half and led all scorers at the break with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Edge had nine points and Holloway scored eight with five boards.
King paced the Red Flash with seven points as the home team shot 44.8 overall but just 11.1 percent (1-of-9) from the free throw line.
The Red Flash trimmed the deficit to five on three different occasions over the first 10 minutes of the second half but the Knights had the answer each time. Bishop sent the Burgundy and Blue into a timeout with a 55-47 lead by canning his third trifecta of the night.
After the Red Flash cut the lead down to two, the Knights answered with a dunk by Holloway, three free throws by Edge and an old-fashioned, three-point play by Williams, which forced an SFU timeout. The 8-0 run established the Burgundy and Blue's first double-digit advantage of the contest, 63-52, with 9:30 to play.
Edge splashed a pair of free throws after the timeout and extended the run to 10 straight points. The lead would eventually grow to 13 points, 71-58, with 4:49 to go in regulation.
With the comfortable lead in place, the Knights took care of business at the free throw line to close out the championship.
Following the game, Edge and Jenkins earned All-NEC Tournament Team honors.
The Knights will find out their NCAA Tournament fate this Sunday, March 17 on CBS' Selection Sunday special.
