BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team kept it rolling on Friday night in Brooklyn, defeating LIU 77-62 and extending their winning streak to four.
With the win, the Knights (7-9, 6-4 NEC) sit atop the NEC standings for the first time this season.
Senior forward
Elyjah Williams paced the Burgundy and Blue with 17 points on 7-of-11 from the field and contributed three blocked shots to his ledger. Williams' defensive presence helped the Knights hold the league's top-scoring offense to its lowest point total of the season.
Coach Herenda Postgame (Video)
How it Happened
- A layup by Alex Rivera provided the Sharks with an early double-digit lead, 17-7, just under six minutes into action.
- The Knights' defense locked in and forced eight turnovers over the next eight minutes as they erased the deficit and took a 27-22 edge when Williams converted a putback layup with 4:17 to play in the half.
- Williams' bucket highlighted a 12-2 run by the Burgundy and Blue over the course of that eight-minute span.
- The Knights' first-half advantage would grow to as many as nine points before they carried a 37-29 lead into the break.
- Jahlil Jenkins scored 10 and Williams added nine to pace the Burgundy and Blue who shot 48.3 percent from the field and held the Sharks to 30.3 percent in the stanza.
- The Sharks scored the first eight points of the second half to tie the game before Jenkins buried a long two-pointer to stop the run.
- With the game tied at 45, the Knights countered with a 12-0 run, highlighted by a three-point play by Williams with under 10 minutes to go.
- The run extended to 25-5 as the Knights' ultimately extended their lead to 20 for the first time, after Rush buried a three-pointer from the wing with 3:09 remaining.
Inside the Box Score
- The Knights led by as many as 22 points in the contest before the Sharks scored the final seven points of the night.
- Williams was one of four Knights to score in double figures as Jenkins had 13 with seven assists, Brandon Powell had 11 and John Square Jr. chipped in 10.
- The Burgundy and Blue shot 50.8 percent from the field and dished out 17 assists – their second-highest output of the season.
- The two-game sweep is the Knights' first on the road this season and their first time winning back-to-back games at LIU since 2016. The win also snaps a four-game skid for the Knights at the Steinberg Wellness Center.
- The victory was Greg Herenda's 99th as head coach of the Knights.
- Williams now sits 49 points shy of becoming the 31st member of the Knights' 1,000-point club.
- The Knights currently hold the NEC's top spot by way of tiebreaker over Bryant, who they swept last week in Hackensack.
Next Up
The Knights return to action next Thursday, February 11 when they travel to Staten Island to take on Wagner at 7:00 p.m.
