NEW BRITAIN, Conn. and NORTH EASTON, Mass. - Sitting atop the Northeast Conference standings tied with Saint Francis U (Pa.) for the league lead, FDU men's basketball (10-8, 3-0 NEC) hits the road this weekend for two NEC contests, first taking on the Central Connecticut Blue Devils on Saturday, January 14 at 1 p.m. followed by the first-ever conference meeting between FDU and the Stonehill Skyhawks on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m.

4-1 in their last five games including three wins in the nine-team NEC, FDU men's basketball is cruising on a four-game winning streak heading into their second and third road games of the NEC circuit. The Knights look to get even with the Blue Devils as Central Connecticut put an end to FDU's postseason last year with a one-point victory (67-66) in the NEC tournament opening round in 2021-22. FDU lost two-of-three to CCSU last season with the lone win coming at home, a 20-point victory for the Burgundy and Blue on January 30, 75-55.

FDU has picked up the pace as of late with first-year head coach Tobin Anderson's squad out-scoring league opponents by 39 points with FDU dropping 248 points in three league contests. Leading the charge has been sophomore forward Ansley Almonor who's averaging 21.3 points per NEC game. Nearly perfect from the foul line, Almonor is 13-for-14 (92.9 percent) and is 11-for-20 from behind the arc. An NEC Prime Performer this week, Almonor combined with reigning NEC Co-Player of the Week graduate student guard Demetre Roberts and fifth-year guard Grant Singleton to power the FDU offense to a league-best 82.7 points per conference game - the most in the NEC by nine points.

Halfway towards their overall wins mark from last season, Central Connecticut makes strides to returning to their prominence with half of their 2022-23 victories coming against NEC opponents as like the Knights, the Blue Devils bested St. Francis Brooklyn and LIU. Sitting 2-2 in league play, CCSU fell to Saint Francis U (Pa.) and Stonehill. Junior guard Kellen Amos wears the No. 5 jersey for Patrick Sellers' team and averages 20.0 p.p.g in NEC contests. Amos, from Houston, Texas, 57.1 percent from the field in league play and 38 percent from distance. Sellers, a former member of the Knights' coaching quartet, was on-staff for FDU's sixth NEC tournament championship which came in 2018-19. The team, which included current FDU men's basketball graduate assistant Mike Holloway Jr., marched on to record FDU's first-ever victory in the NCAA tournament.

In the second matchup of the New England swing, FDU will face Stonehill in the first-ever meeting between the now-NEC foes. Joining the conference on July 1, 2022, Stonehill has made their presence known in the league's 42nd season of play. Isaiah Burnett, a six-foot-five guard from Annapolis, Md., transferred to Stonehill from hometown Navy and has since tore it up in two years as a Skyhawk. Burnett, in the top 10 in scoring in the NEC, averages 15.5 points per night.

FDU turns around to face Stonehill at Stratis Arena inside the Rothman Center six days later on Sunday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. Fans can catch each game of the road trip on NEC Front Row and the NEC on the Run app.

The 2022-23 men's basketball season is presented by Bogota Savings Bank.