CHICAGO, Ill. – Jo'el Emanuel shined for FDU (7-13, 3-2) in a 58-48 win over Chicago State (2-18, 2-3) on Monday night. The Knights' junior forward scored a game-high 22 points and secured eight rebounds to help his team overcome a slow start.
The Burgundy and Blue are now 3-0 away from home in conference play. This marks a stark turnaround from their challenging non-conference slate, in which they went winless on the road. They are one of two teams in the league this year to win their first three NEC road games (Central Connecticut).
Turnovers plagued FDU early on against Chicago State. At the six minute mark in the first half, the Knights had ten turnovers and just 14 points. Fortunately, defense and
Terrence Brown kept the Cougars from building a substantial lead. Brown, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half, had eight of FDU's first 12 points.
Despite the clunky opening, the Knights finished the first half very strong. Emanuel scored six points in the final 5:10 and led FDU on a 13-5 run to finish the half. They led 27-23 at the break.
After Chicago State scored the first two points of the second half, FDU took control of the game. The Knights utilized a 9-1 run to stretch their lead to ten. The teams played relatively even for a large portion of the period, but the Cougars clawed back with just over six minutes to play and cut the FDU lead to two.
With the lead now down to 44-42,
Brayden Reynolds cut to the basket and converted a three-point play to push the lead back to five. This sparked a 9-0 run that put the game away.
Emanuel, who was 7-9 from the field tonight, has surged in conference play. In five NEC games, he is averaging 16 points and seven rebounds per contest. He is putting up these numbers efficiently, too. He has significantly improved his free throw percentage to 73.7% during conference play and is shooting just shy of 50% from the field.
Monday marked FDU's best rebounding effort of the season. They were a +14 on the glass (42-28), which helped them hold off Chicago State's comeback attempts.
Outside of Emanuel, FDU got encouraging performances from
Jameel Morris and
Bismark Nsiah. Morris, who had missed his last 13 attempts from beyond the arc, knocked down two threes on four attempts tonight. He also grabbed four rebounds. After a quiet first half, Nsiah finished the game with eight points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Knights are back on the road next Sunday, January 26, at Stonehill. The game starts at 2 p.m. with coverage available on NEC Front Row.
