HACKENSACK, N.J. – Led by 26 points from senior guard
Jahlil Jenkins, the Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team rallied from seven points down in the final two minutes to defeat Bryant, 81-79 at Stratis Arena on Saturday night.
With the Knights (4-9, 3-4 NEC) trailing by two, Jenkins drove the length of the floor and calmly buried a go-ahead three-pointer with 18 seconds left, which proved to be the difference. It was a monumental performance from the West Virginia native, as he eclipsed 1,500 career points in the win to move into 10
th place on the Knights' all-time scoring list.
The win marks the second year in a row the Knights have pulled off a major comeback over the Bulldogs (10-4, 6-3 NEC) inside the Rothman Center and it is also their seventh straight win in the series. Last season, the Burgundy and Blue trailed by eight points with 1:48 to go before scoring the game's final 10 points en route to the win.
Postgame Links:
Greg Herenda Postgame
Jenkins Postgame
How It Happened
- The two teams traded baskets for most of the opening half with the Bulldogs holding a slim lead for most of the half.
- Jenkins paced the Knights by scoring 12 of their first 30 points.
- The tightly-contested stanza saw the Bulldogs gain some breathing room after Chris Childs made a pair of free throws with 2:36 remaining to give the visitors a 41-33 edge.
- The Knights would close the half on a 10-4 run highlighted by a half-court buzzer-beater by Jenkins, which sent the Knights into the break trailing 45-43.
- Brandon Rush scored the Knights' first eight points of the second half as the team took its first lead since the first minute of the night.
- After the Bulldogs' built a seven-point lead with a Charles Pride layup, the Knights stormed back and tied the game, 72-72, when Jenkins buried a three-pointer with 4:32 to play.
- The Bulldogs would once again pull away but trailing by seven with 1:42 to go, the Knights remained undeterred.
- A pair of threes by Brandon Powell and Jenkins sandwiched two free throws by Joe Munden Jr. and pulled the Knights to within two.
- With 25 seconds remaining, Jenkins took the inbound, raced down the floor, dribbled behind his back, pulled up and drained the go-ahead three-pointer to put the Knights on top 80-79.
- With 10 seconds to go, the Bulldogs final chance was offline and the Knights held on for the come-from-behind win.
Inside the Box Score
- Jenkins, who now has 56 points in the team's last two games registered his milestone points by dropping in one of his vintage floaters early in the second half and currently ranks 10th all-time in FDU history with 1,510 points.
- Jenkins passed his former teammate Mike Holloway Jr. on the scoring list earlier in the night.
- Munden Jr. corralled a career-high 12 rebounds as the Knights out-rebounded the Bulldogs 39-37 in the contest.
- Rush scored 18 points and made 5-of-10 from behind the arc, while Elyjah Williams scored 13 with six rebounds and three assists.
- The Knights shot 43.3 percent and the Bulldogs made 45.9 percent from the field.
- Chris Childs paced the Bulldogs with 22 points and hit 6-of-12 from three-point range.
Next Up
These teams square off again tomorrow with tip-off set for 4:00 p.m. in the Rothman Center.
