HACKENSACK, N.J. - #2 FDU (18-14) earned their seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament in an emphatic 70-50 victory over #3 Saint Francis U in Saturday's second NEC tournament semifinal game. The Knights came out of the halftime break hot and never looked back. In the other Northeast Conference Championship semifinal #1 Merrimack defeated #4 Sacred Heart. Due to Merrimack not being eligible for the NCAA Tournament, the semifinal contest at Stratis Arena was for a trip to the Big Dance.

FDU will play for the program's seventh NEC Tournament title on Tuesday when it heads to top-seeded Merrimack at 7 pm. Saint Francis U concludes its season with a 13-17 overall record.

Demetre Roberts led all scorers with 18 points, while Ansley Almonor and Grant Singleton contributed 15 and 12 points, respectively, to fuel the Knights' offense.

The Knights built a 10-point advantage late in the opening half behind an 8-2 run, but Maxwell Land would bring the margin down to 35-28 after beating the halftime horn with a deep three-pointer.

It was all FDU out of the intermission, though. The Knights scored nine of the first 11 points of the stanza to push their lead to 15 at 45-30 with 14:46 left to play. That advantage grew to as many as 20 points on a Cameron Tweedy layup with 8:57 to go. It was a lockdown performance defensively, holding the NEC Co-Player of the Year honoree Josh Cohen to just 12 points on 6-11 shooting. FDU kept the Red Flash out of rhythm all night with tremendous pressure and switching tactics. 

The Red Flash put a dent in their deficit and pull within 12 with 6:06 to go with an 8-0 run but they wouldn't come any closer than that down the stretch. Saint Francis U was led by Land, who knocked down three triples for 13 points.

FDU produced on the defensive end, holding the opponent to the lowest point total a Division I team has scored against the Knights all season.

More information regarding the Northeast Conference Championship game will be released on Sunday.