HACKENSACK, N.J. - The man they call 'Fuzz' hit three-straight three-point field goals in the opening minutes of Saturday's Northeast Conference men's basketball tilt between FDU (10-12, 4-3 NEC) and Sacred Heart and it was off to the races inside the Bogota Savings Bank Center. Senior forward
Sean Moore (Columbus, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) knocked down a quartet of triples to score 12 of FDU's first 14 points in the first 5:13 en route to a 93-91 win over the Pioneers. The four three-pointers ties his career high.
The long ball was the weapon of choice for the Burgundy and Blue early on as the Knights sank nearly 70 percent of their 11 three-point tries in the first 10 minutes of the ballgame. Sacred Heart's leading scorer Nico Galette - the active career leader in the NEC - was held to two points, eight rebounds and turned the ball over three times. He was held without a field goal through the first 18:44 of the opening period.
FDU's traps worked wonders in the opening stanza, holding the visiting Pioneers (2-9 on the road) at bay with a string of scoring droughts. Anthony Latina's Sacred Heart squad turned the ball over four times through the first three electronic-media breaks.
The Knights controlled the scoring edge the overwhelming majority of the first half as a dunk by senior guard
Joe Munden Jr. (Harlem, N.Y./Monsignor Scanlan), a pair of free throw makes by freshman guard
Terrence Brown (Minneapolis, Minn./Columbia Heights) and long jumper by junior forward
Ansley Almonor (Spring Valley, N.Y./St. Joseph Regional [Mont.]) brought FDU up 10.
After 20 minutes of play, FDU led by 14, the Knights' second-largest halftime lead of conference play this season (17 points vs. Stonehill - 1/13/24).
Emanuel and Moore opened the second half of action with unanswered points though the Pios would respond later on with two three-pointers and found themselves only down eight as time went on.
Emanuel had an electric and-one -- one of his many highlight reel plays of the game -- to finish-off an old-fashioned three-point play and give the Burgundy and Blue a 21-point lead with 10 minutes remaining in the period.
Galette broke the slow start for the visiting Pioneers as he fueled an 11-0 run for the visitors with eight of the 11 points before graduate student guard
Heru Bligen (Glenn Dale, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal) got the hoop and the harm on the other end.
"It was good to see Ru [Bligen] out there today," said head coach
Jack Castleberry after the win. "He played really hard. He wasn't really making shots in the first half but played really hard. When he plays hard, he's elite and he impacts the game when he's playing hard. He was a big reason we won today."
FDU entered the under-four electronic-media timeout up four, 83-79, with 2:59 remaining in regulation. After that mark, the Knights hit 8-of-10 from the foul line for crucial points with mere seconds remaining. With just a second on the clock, the Pioneers came within one and both teams in the double bonus, the closest they would get before Moore secured the win with a free throw make to put FDU up two, the final scoring margin. Moore finished with 17 points, the fourth-straight game (overall/league play) that he's scored at least 12.
Five Knights tallied double-figure scoring marking the eighth contest of the year when four-or-more Knights eclipse the nine-point mark. FDU is 5-3 in those games.
Moving to 5-5 at home, the Knights look to begin a streak in the wins' column with LIU paying the Knights a visit on Thursday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. ET for the Equality Game on the YES Network and streaming on the YES App. Tickets are on-sale now at
FDUKnights.com/Tickets.
- Sophomore guard Brayden Reynolds (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley) was involved in the action with a career-high seven dimes
- FDU avoids a sweep of the season series at the hands of Sacred Heart with a win at home after the Pioneers won both of the meetings last season
- Bligen's 16 points - 12 in the second half - set a new season high (was 14)
- Munden Jr.'s five assists matched his season and career best
- Almonor finished with a team-high 22 points, his eighth game of 2023-24 of 20 or more -- matching his season total from last year for a total of 16 20-plus point performances over his three-year FDU career, the 4th most since 2010... Almonor played 34 minutes (tied for most in the game)...
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Bogota Savings Bank is the presenting sponsor for the 2023-24 FDU men's basketball season.
