HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team scored the final 10 points of the game to stun Bryant 74-72 on senior night at Stratis Arena on Thursday night.
Trailing by eight with 1:46 to play, the Knights turned the game upside down. Freshman guard
Devon Dunn made a pair of highlight-reel layups, which sandwiched a three-pointer from junior guard Xzavier Malone Key. Then, junior guard
Jahlil Jenkins came up with a steal and finished off the break with the game-winning bucket with nine seconds to go. Prior to Jenkins' field goal, the Knights had trailed for the entirety (39:49) of the game. This is the Knights' sixth straight win over the Bulldogs.
"That was crazy – I still don't know exactly how we did it but we did," said
Greg Herenda following the dramatic win. "Our guys just never quit and it has paid off for us so many times here but never like that. The roar from our fans when Jahlil's layup went in was the loudest I have heard the Rothman Center. That was special."
Malone-Key's 16 points paced the Knights (10-18, 8-9 NEC), who shot 60 percent in the second half for the second time in as many games. The Burgundy and Blue surrendered a season-high 21 offensive rebounds and were out-rebounded 46-29 in total but battled defensively and held the Bulldogs (14-16, 6-11 NEC) to 38.5 percent from the field and just 5-of-23 from three-point range.
After scoring just two points in the first half, Jenkins hit four of his five shots in the second half to finish with 13 points in the win. Junior forward
Elyjah Williams joined the aforementioned duo in double figures and filled up the box score with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists.
With a win on Saturday at Mount St. Mary's, the Knights will be the No. 5 seed in next week's Northeast Conference Tournament and travel to LIU. With a loss, the Knights will head to Fairfield, Connecticut as the No. 6 seed to face No. 3 seed Sacred Heart.
"On senior night, it was our freshmen that stepped up when we needed a lift the most. Devon, Danny and
Brandon Rush rose to the occasion and helped Kaleb make his senior night an extremely memorable one. That was truly one for the ages."
The two teams started off cold missing their first 10 shots before the Bulldogs netted a layup. The Knights' drought continued with seven straight misses before the senior Bishop tipped in his own miss four minutes into the game.
Despite shooting 42 percent compared to the Bulldogs' 36 percent, the Knights found themselves down 35-27 at the break. Both team struggled at the free throw line in the first half and the trend continued to the final whistle as Bryant made 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) and the Knights hit 11-of-19 (57.9 percent) at the charity stripe.
The Burgundy and Blue raced out of the locker room and scored the first six points, highlighted by a left-handed layup from Williams, which forced a Bulldog timeout. On the ensuing possession Adam Grant ended the spurt with a layup for the visitors. Grant finished with 16 points in the loss.
After the early burst, the Knights would eventually trail by as many nine points, 71-62, with 3:01 to play. Down by eight, Dunn set off the final sequence by converting a difficult reverse layup through contact, however, he missed the free throw and the Knights trailed by six.
A defensive stop setup Malone-Key's three-pointer from the wing before Dunn came up with a steal and his second shot at an old-fashioned three-point play. Dunn converted a layup and the free throw to tie the game at 72 with 39 seconds remaining.
Jenkins came up with a strip on the defensive end and immediately raced down the floor and finished a spinning, right-handed layup to put the Burgundy and Blue on top.
The Bulldogs had one final chance but their three-pointer was off the mark as time expired.
Prior to tip-off, the Knights honored senior forward
Kaleb Bishop with a ceremony. Bishop battled foul trouble and finished with seven points and three rebounds in 19 minutes of action. The senior forward is tied for seventh at FDU with 737 career rebounds and ranks 21st in points with 1,102.
The Knights close out the regular season on Saturday afternoon against Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg Md. Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m.
