SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Playing at Seton Hall's on-campus, Historic Walsh Gymnasium, FDU men's basketball (2-1, 0-0 NEC) got off to a slow start as the Knights fell to the Pirates 85-55 Saturday afternoon, the first loss of the young 2023-24 season.
 
Unable to get the three-ball heated up in the opening minutes, the story of the opening period was FDU's 1-for-12 three-point shooting. Jack Castleberry's Knights showed several promising flashes around the midway point of the first half with back-to-back buckets by senior forward Sean Moore (Columbus, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) and sophomore forward Jo'el Emanuel (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern), seeking to spark the FDU offense.

"We got out of character tonight," said Castleberry in his postgame comments. "I didn't think we were very good at executing the things we were trying to execute in the first half. We continued to fight, which I'm proud of obviously. I thought it was good our young guys got a lot of reps and I think Terrence Brown can be a really good player for us and he had a good night tonight. He looked comfortable out there."
 
While the Knights' press was able to force eight Pirate turnovers in the first period, the Burgundy and Blue were only able to convert four points off those turnovers by the home BIG EAST team.
 
The Pirates' 24-point halftime advantage was the first of any of the Knights' opening opponents this season.
 
Coming out of the gate in the second half, the Knights got the shots from downtown to fall with two triples in the first 90 seconds of the period, though the effort would fall short as FDU would go on to record a final three-point shooting mark of 5-for-31 (16 percent) after breaking the program single-game record earlier this week against Penn State Brandywine.
 
Seton Hall's Kada Richmond paced Shaheen Holloway's team in scoring with 14 points. Jaden Bediako posted a double-double for the Pirates with 12 points and 10 rebounds on 4-for-5 shooting. The Pirates (2-0, 0-0 BIG EAST) face America East member Albany in their next outing.
 
FDU freshman Terrence Brown was the lone Knight in the plus column as the Minneapolis, Minn. product (Columbia Heights/Golden State) sank eight free throws and picked up a field goal for an FDU high 10 points. Brown dished one assist and picked up a board off the defensive glass while also nabbing a steal.
 
The Knights return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. ET inside Stratis Arena for the Battle of Bracket Busters against 2022 NCAA tournament Cinderella Saint Peter's. Wednesday's game will air live on the YES Network and the YES App, the first televised home non-conference game in FDU history. Tickets are on-sale now at FDUKnights.com/Tickets.
 
Connect with FDU men's basketball on X and Instagram, @FDUKnightsMBB.

Bogota Savings Bank is the presenting sponsor for the 2023-24 FDU men's basketball season.
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