BUFFALO, N.Y. – Starting off the 75th campaign in program history with an explosive effort from sophomore forward
Jo'el Emanuel, FDU men's basketball pulled out a dominant opening night win Monday night at Alumni Arena in Buffalo against the Buffalo Bulls (0-1, 0-0 MAC) as the Knights make the trek home celebrating a 92-86 road victory. The win marked the first career victory for first-year head coach
Jack Castleberry.
Emanuel scored 18 first half points, doubling his collegiate career game-high of nine, in under 18 minutes of play in the opening period. The opening bucket - an Emanuel triple – came by way of a strip by graduate student guard
DeVante Jamison whose quickness got Emanuel the ball in space for the early bucket. The Suffern, N.Y. product Emanuel would finish with a new career best of 24 points. Emanuel made his first start since December 2022.
"Jo'el [Emanuel] is one of a bunch of guys we have who, this summer, worked their butts off," said Castleberry speaking of Emanuel's work ethic. "He's obviously a freak athlete and is unbelievably coachable - and wants to be better. He's made huge strides in this game and the sky's the limit for that kid."
"Bullet," one of two current Knights who played at Division II St. Thomas Aquinas (
Sean Moore), dished out three assists in the first half leading to seven FDU points in the opening act.
Moore, the hero of the Knights' NCAA tournament run, shot 67 percent from deep in the first 20 minutes.
Entering the second half up 10, it was off to the races as FDU opened up the festivities with six field goals in the early going (6-for-13). Buffalo would cut the lead to two at just about the midway point of the half and the Knights' lead was erased for the first time in nearly 20 minutes with a pair of free throws. Buffalo's Jonnivius Smith kept the Bulls in the game with seven second-half points. He would finish with a team-leading 19 rebounds.
Senior guard
Joe Munden Jr., making his 75th appearance for the Knights, posted 13 second half points to pace FDU's lead protection in the final 20 minutes. Munden would finish with 18 points on 5-of-11 shooting.
The Knights did gritty work down low in Castleberry's head coaching debut with 40 points in the paint, while the bench contribute eight points. 15 FDU points came off turnovers in the first 20 minutes as the Burgundy and Blue led by as many as 12 in the first.
FDU picked up 18 assists while turning the ball over just six times.
Talking postgame about his first win, Castleberry concluded his remarks saying, "I'm thrilled for the guys, man. We had a lot of expectations on us coming into the season and to be honest, we didn't have great scrimmages. There was reason to be concerned but these guys stayed the course, stuck together and we worked through it. Our guys came out and played as hard as they can play and they finished the night. We took some punches, were resilient and we got it done."
The 30th season opening win in program history, FDU (1-0, 0-0 NEC) has a quick turnaround as the Knights get set to welcome Penn State Brandywine to Stratis Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. The game will air live on NEC Front Row. Tickets are on-sale now at
FDUKnights.com/Tickets or by
clicking here.
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Bogota Savings Bank is the presenting sponsor for the 2023-24 FDU men's basketball season.
- The win marks FDU's 30th season-opening victory (first since 2019)... FDU is now 30-45 all-time in lid-lifters
- Jack Castleberry becomes the fourth head coach in program history to win their FDU debut
- Emanuel's 24 points are the most by a Knight since Demetre Roberts posted 28 against LIU on 1/7/23
- FDU's 92 points are the most in a game against a Division I opponent since dropping 101 against LIU on 1/7/23
