Box Score
Brooklyn Heights, NY - - -Senior forward Alvin Mofunanya hit a 15-foot jumper from the right corner with three seconds remaining to give the visiting Fairleigh Dickinson Knights a 56-55 victory over the St. Francis (NY) Terriers, in a Northeast Conference contest on Saturday evening at the Pope Physical Education Center.
Junior guard Ricky Cadell paced St. Francis (10-17, 7-9 NEC) with 18 points and classmate Akeem Bennett was also in double-digits with 12 points.
The Terriers, who have now dropped seven of their last eight contests, led 55-54 after senior center Herman Wrice hit one of two free throws with 12 seconds left in the game. But following a timeout, Mofunanya, who had missed his first four field goal attempts, calmly drained the game-winner off an assist from guard Terence Grier. After a timeout, sophomore forward Stefan Perunicic took the inbounds pass but was not able to get off his runner from the foul line before the final buzzer expired. His shot was off the mark even if the buzzer had not sounded.
The Knights, who had dropped six straight against the Terriers, led for most of the contest until St. Francis made a huge run at the eight minute mark. FDU went up 52-41 after John Galvin converted a jumper with 8:02 remaining but the hosts rattled off 12 straight points to take a 53-52 advantage with just 3:01 on the clock. It was the Terriers first lead since the 12:28 mark of the first half. Cadell and Perunicic hit 3-pointers during the spurt and Wrice converted a pair of layups, including the go-ahead bucket off an assist by Cadell. Bennett also delivered a hoop.
FDU reclaimed the lead, 54-53, after Kamil Svrdlik (13 points)hit both of his free throw attempts with 2:35 remaining, but Terriers’ sophomore guard Justin Newton connected on one of two free throw attempts to knot the score at 54-54 with 1:04 left. Neither team scored until Wrice’s free throw, which momentarily gave St. Francis the lead.
St. Francis trailed just 17-16 with 8:28 remaining in the opening half until the visitors went on a 16-4 run to widen their lead to 33-20 with 16 seconds left in the stanza. Perunicic scored on a layup at the buzzer to make it 33-22 at the break.
FDU took their largest lead of the game, 36-22, after Svrdlik hit a free throw at the 19:11 mark of the second half. The Terriers answered with a 13-2 run to trim their deficit to just 38-35 with 15:12 remaining. Perunicic and Cadell drained back-to-back 3-pointers to cap the run. But the Knights responded with a 12-3 spurt to grab a 50-38 advantage at the 10:11 mark.
The Terriers shot just 37.5 percent (21-of-56) from the floor but did hit 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) treys to stay in the contest. They did, however, hurt themselves at the line going just 3-of-12 (25 perecent).
The Knights, who went 9-of-13 (69.2 percent) from the line, shot 44 percent (22-of-50) overall and were 3-for-8 (37.5 percent) from long distance.
Sean Baptiste scored a game-high 21 points for FDU and Mike Scott chipped in with 10 points and nine assists before fouling out with 5:15 remaining.
The loss put a damper on a tremendous day at St. Francis as the Terriers held a highly successful “Shoot for the Cure Day,” in an effort to raise funds for cancer research.
St. Francis will end the season on the road with tilts against Bryant and Central Connecticut State next week.