HACKENSACK, N.J. - In a true game of runs, FDU men's basketball (6-11, 0-2 NEC) fell just short inside Stratis Arena Wednesday as the Knights fell in their non-conference finale to future Northeast Conference member Chicago State (8-15, D-I Independent), 75-74. Chicago State led by as many as 16 with just over five minutes to go in the second half.
FDU senior guard
Joe Munden Jr. (Harlem, N.Y./Monsignor Scanlan) returned from injury after missing the last game and a half to pace the Burgundy and Blue with 17 points -- two shy of his season best -- in 31 minutes. Munden Jr. had several key buckets as the four-year Knight hit six field goals in the outing.
"The disappointing part of tonight is that we've been playing so hard," said head coach
Jack Castleberry after the setback. "We need to put together 40 minutes of high-energy, high-intensity and for the first 20 tonight we didn't do that."
Speaking on Munden Jr.'s return to the lineup Castleberry commented, "Joe's [Munden Jr.] a fighter. The guy goes in there and gets banged up and bruised up more than anybody in college basketball that I've been around. The kid's got more heart than most people and we're incredibly lucky to have him in our program."
Early on, the story of the opening period was Chicago State's Noble Crawford who scored three of the Cougars' first five points. Crawford, who averaged 6.8 points a game heading into Wednesday's tilt, led all scorers with a career-high 19.
The Knights also got off to a hot start with Munden Jr., senior forward
Sean Moore (Columbus, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) and junior forward
Ansley Almonor (Spring Valley, N.Y./St. Joseph Regional [Mont.]) combining to open up 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
A two-plus minute FDU 6-0 run was stopped by a Greg Spate three, though sophomore guard
Brayden Reynolds (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) would have the answer right away.
After tying the game at the nine-minute mark, Chicago State's first of six leads came with 8:29 to go in the first after their fourth triple to go up 20-18.
With back-and-forth triples out of the under-eight electronic-media timeout, Chicago State's bulge grew to four as four minutes approached.
Crawford notably had nine points in the first 16 minutes for the visiting Cougars.
FDU's dynamic duo of Munden Jr. and Almonor brought the Knights within three as halftime approached though FDU would find itself down six at the break.
The second half put fans' heads on a swivel as both high-flying offenses went back-and-forth before the Knights' heroics kicked in.
Chicago State would go on a game-high 15-0 run but FDU, down 16, would cut the deficit to one.
In order for that to occur, sophomore forward
Jo'el Emanuel (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) and Reynolds, along with Munden Jr., hit big shots -- Reynolds would tie the game at 74 with 8.8 seconds to go with a remarkable floater from underneath the basket.
Chicago State's Crawford would ice the bout with 3.3 seconds remaining in the second half, hitting his second free throw after missing the first attempt to secure the one-point win for the Cougars.
FDU forced 16 turnovers in the game that featured 69 possessions per squad. Chicago State beat FDU off offensive rebounds with 20 second-chance points and 16 offensive boards.
NEC play resumes for FDU as the Knights welcome Chicago State on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m. live on the YES Network and streaming on the YES App. Tickets are on-sale at
FDUKnights.com/Tickets.
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Bogota Savings Bank is the presenting sponsor for the 2023-24 FDU men's basketball season.
