HACKENSACK, N.J. - Demetre Roberts again shined in the Burgundy and Blue for a team-best 27 points on a game-high 10 field goals, though Knights men's basketball would suffer their first defeat of Northeast Conference action. FDU battled against Sacred Heart Friday as the Burgundy and Blue (12-9, 5-1 NEC) fell 92-85 while the Pioneers eclipsed .500 overall on the campaign, now sitting at 11-10, 4-2 in-conference.
Second-chance points were clutch for the Knights throughout the night as FDU posted 13 to the Pioneers' 10 in the Knights' third NEC regular season home game of the campaign. Among the numerous key plays in Friday's tilt was a
Jo'el Emanuel dunk which was flushed home following a loose ball just outside the bench area contested by
Grant Singleton to cut the Knights' deficit to three with under 11 minutes to play in the second half.
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Singleton and Roberts were a one-two punch in the scoring column with the duo of fifth-year guards combining for nine of FDU's 11 made three-pointers as
Tobin Anderson's side would sink 11 in 24 tries (45.8 percent). Roberts' 10 field goals were the most of any Knight in a game this season.
Despite the heroics, including a string of triples in the game's final six minutes to bring FDU as close to two points with 1:58 to go in the midst of 18 points, seven unanswered, scored by the Pios with guard Joe Reilly leading the scoring with eight of his game-leading 29 points coming in the run.
Outscoring FDU 16-4 coming out of the gate in the second half, the Pioneers overcame a seven-point halftime setback to go into the under-16 timeout leading, 46-41. In that stretch, Roberts and
Joe Munden Jr. continued to make things interesting as FDU would continue to stay in the game with their "next play" mentality.
Singleton was sent to the line with 4:06 to go in the second and sank two free throws to make it a whole new game as FDU would tie things up at 74.
"Just a lot of defensive breakdowns across the board," commented Anderson. "We played really well in our last game [Stonehill] defensively. We've been an average to below average defensive team, but we've been able to hide it with our scoring and things like that. Credit to Sacred Heart; I thought they played well, they're a very mature team. It's early here. We're trying to learn from this and get better."
FDU returns to action on Sunday, January 22 at 6 p.m. for the second leg of the season series with Stonehill for the Skyhawks first trip to Hackensack and Stratis Arena inside the Rothman Center. Tickets for Sunday's game are on-sale now at FDUKnights.com/Tickets. Fans can catch all the action live on NEC Front Row and the NEC on the Run app.
The 2022-23 men's basketball season is presented byÂ
Bogota Savings Bank.
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