HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team welcomes the first-place Merrimack Warriors to the Rothman Center on Thursday night.
FDU head coach
Greg Herenda is an alumnus of Merrimack and still holds the team's single-game record with 22 assists. In addition, Herenda spent four seasons as an assistant coach from 1985-89 with the Warriors.
FDU Knights (6-15, 4-6 NEC) vs. Merrimack Warriors (15-8, 9-1 NEC)
Thursday, Feb. 6 – 7:00 PM
Stratis Arena – Hackensack, N.J.
Watch: ESPN3
Talent: Dave Popkin & Tim Capstraw
Notes: KNIGHTS |
Merrimack
Links: Live Stats |
Twitter
All-Time Series
Merrimack leads 1-0
at FDU...0-0 (FDU won exhibition 77-62 on 11/3/16 in Hackensack)
Last Five..0-1
Streak...L1
First Meeting..Merrimack 74, FDU 71 (2OT) - (1/23/20 at Merrimack)
Last Meeting..Same
With five seconds to play in the second overtime period, Merrimack's Jaleel Lord beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer from the wing, which proved to be the deciding basket. Senior forward
Kaleb Bishop delivered a double-double for the Knights by scoring 20 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the loss. Sophomore guard
Brandon Powell filled up the box score with 14 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while junior
Elyjah Williams scored 11 and grabbed seven rebounds. Idris Joyner led all scorers with 21 points for the first-place Warriors and Lord added 20 points, connecting on 6-of-12 from three-point range. The Knights shot 40 percent overall and made 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from behind the arc however, they took care of business at the free throw line where they converted 18-of-19 (94.7 percent). The Warriors only made 37 percent from the field but knocked down 10-of-25 (40 percent) from behind the arc.
FDU Last Time Out
An enormous first-half performance propelled the Knights to a wire-to-wire, 85-75 victory over Mount St. Mary's last Saturday. The Knights locked down the Mountaineers (9-13, 5-4 NEC) over the first 20 minutes, holding the opposition to six field goals and a season-low 17 first-half points. Freshman guard
Devon Dunn registered the best game of his young career, scoring a career-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the victory. Six Knights scored in double figures including Williams who registered his second double-double of the campaign with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
In addition to the aforementioned duo,
Jahlil Jenkins scored 14 points with six assists and four rebounds,
Xzavier Malone-Key scored 12 and Bishop and Powell finished with 10 points apiece.
The Burgundy and Blue shot 54.9 percent overall and drained 10-of-17 from three-point range. They also enjoyed a 32-27 advantage on the glass. Jalen Gibbs poured in 23 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, while Damian Chong Qui added 16 points for the Mount in the loss. After their dismal first-half shooting effort, the Mountaineers shot 52.9 percent in the second half.
Coach Herenda's Thoughts
"We played some really, really good defense today and our offense followed suit," said
Greg Herenda after the win. "That may have been one of the best halves that we have played in my seven years here. We had six players in double figures and shared the ball as well as we have done all year long."
"When
Elyjah Williams plays like he did today, we are a very difficult team to beat. The bench was great tonight -- especially
Devon Dunn. Devon has the ability to really make our team hard to guard. We will need our bench as we move forward down the stretch."
Next Up
The Knights close out their three-game homestand next Thursday, February 13 against Wagner.
