MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – Senior forward
Kaleb Bishop's tip-in with 1.2 seconds to go gave the Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team a thrilling 72-71 victory over first-place Robert Morris at the UPMC Events Center on Saturday afternoon.
After the Colonials took a one-point lead with eight seconds remaining,
Jahlil Jenkins drove end-to-end and tossed up a floater, which caromed off of
Xzavier Malone-Key and into the hands of Bishop, who rose above a scrum of defenders and tipped-in the miss with 1.2 on the clock.
Bishop's heroics followed a three-point play by Malone-Key, which had given the Knights a lead with 27 seconds to play. With the win, the Knights (8-16, 6-7 NEC) snap the first-place Colonials' six-game winning streak and inch to within one game of .500 in conference play.
Jenkins led all scorers with 21 points and added three assists, two rebounds and two steals to his ledger in the win. Four Knights scored in double figures with
Elyjah Williams totaling 14 and seven rebounds. Malone-Key finished with 12 points and Bishop had 11 with six boards.
The Knights shot 46 percent overall and made 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from three-point range.
For the Colonials, A.J. Bramah scored 17, while Mendy and Charles Bain added 10 points apiece. The home team made 44 percent overall and 28 percent from deep. They also out-rebounded the Knights 33-31 and made 15-of-16 at the free throw line.
"We have it on the board for every game -- "every second of every possession for 40 minutes" -- and Kaleb took that literally today," said
Greg Herenda following the thrilling win. "I told him before the game that this was going to be a senior game and he made the big play. That was just a very gutty victory against a very good Robert Morris team in a beautiful building."
The Knights jumped out to an early eight-point lead after Williams drained a three from the wing but the Colonials would respond with a 14-0 run to take a 20-14 edge midway through the half.
The Colonials' lead grew to nine points before the Knights launched their comeback. With Jenkins leading the charge the Burgundy and Blue closed the stanza on an 8-0 run and trailed 32-31 at the break.
Williams paced the Knights with 10 points in the half, while Jenkins added eight. The Knights made 42 percent overall and 4-of-13 three-point tries in the half, while the Colonials 39 percent overall and 4-of-11 from deep.
Out of the break, the Knights briefly nabbed the lead, 36-34, on a
Devon Dunn 3-pointer before the Colonials grabbed it back on a trey from Bain. The Colonials would extend their second-half lead to seven points with 3:34 to play in regulation.
The Knights chipped away and trailing by five with two minutes to go, Dunn beat the shot clock with a long 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 69-67. After a Jenkins steal, Malone-Key came down the floor and converted a three-point play to put the Knights on top with 27 seconds to go.
On the next possession, Bramah drew a foul for the Colonials and made both free throws to put his team on top 71-70. With eight ticks to go, Jenkins drove to the basket, which set up Bishop's game-winning tip-in.
Herenda concluded, "This is the time to be playing good basketball and that is what we are doing right now. We just need to continue to improve and stay hungry -- that is all we are concerned with right now and it is surely paying off."
The Knights look to extend their winning streak to three when they travel to Central Connecticut State to face the Blue Devils next Tuesday, February 18 at 7:00 p.m.
