Rodgerson shoots out of early
season slump with near-perfect night for 26 points
LOWELL, Mass. (November 25,
2003) - Franklin Pierce erased a seven-point deficit early
in the second half and upset University of Massachusetts Lowell,
ranked No. 4 in the Division II Bulletin Preseason Top 25 poll,
77-74, in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at
Costello Gymnasium tonight.
Senior guard Derek
Rodgerson (Newburgh, Maine/Hampden Academy) shot his
way out of an early season funk as he canned eight-of-nine shots
from the field, including a perfect 6-6 from three-point range, to
lead all scorers with a season-high 26 points to go with five
rebounds to lead Franklin Pierce.
Classmate and preseason
All-American Jimmie Hunt (Utica, N.Y./Mount Ararat
(Maine)) added 17 points, aided by a 9-10 effort at
the free-throw line, four rebounds and three assists. Sophomore
Tom Sadler (London, England/Farmington
(N.H.)) contributed a career-high 14 points and six
rebounds. Freshman Darryl Minifield (Brookline,
Mass./Brookline), the Ravens 5-foot, 11-inch point
guard, snared a game-high nine rebounds and dished three assists.
Senior All-American
Elad Inbar (Kiryat Haim, Israel) finished
with 25 points for UMass Lowell, but 22 of those points came in the
first 14 minutes of the contest as the Ravens limited him to just
one field goal and 1-9 shooting from the floor over the final 26
minutes of the
game.
Senior guard Dana Jones
(Bronx, N.Y./Westchester CC) added 21 points, five
rebounds and four assists for the River Hawks. Classmate
Uri Grunwald (Haifa, Israel) grabbed a
game-best nine rebounds.
Franklin Pierce, which entered the
game with a -10.3 average rebounding margin over the first three
games, out-rebounded its first opponent of the season, enjoying a
39-35 advantage on the glass. The Ravens also took advantage of a
56.3-percent (9-16) shooting night from three-point range, compared
to 22.6% (7-31) for UMass Lowell. Franklin Pierce also out-scored
the River Hawks 22-13 at the foul line.
Trailing by six (49-43) 5:08 into
the second half, Franklin Pierce got a three-pointer from Rodgerson
and a lay-up from Sadler on the break to close within a point
(49-48) with 13:13 to play.
UMass Lowell pushed its lead back
to four points (52-48) after a pair of free throws by sophomore
Stacy Moragne (Evanston, Ill./Evanston).
The Ravens responded with a lay-in from senior Kent
Willingham (Queens, N.Y./McNair Academy), then
back-to-back three's from Rodgerson gave the Ravens their first
lead of the half (53-52) and second of the game with 9:18 to play.
The teams traded baskets over the
next five minutes, then Sadler scored seven-straight Franklin
Pierce points, capped by a three-pointer with 2:34 to play that
gave the Ravens a four-point lead (67-63).
Freshman point guard
Ryan McLellan (Newport, Maine/Nokomis)
hit a remarkable reverse lay-up on the baseline with 1:12 to play
to give Franklin Pierce a 69-65 edge.
After UMass Lowell missed a
three-pointer with just under a minute to play the River Hawks were
forced to foul and the Ravens hit their first four attempts, but
when Sadler missed the front end of a pair and Hunt missed the back
end of another, UMass Lowell closed to within a point (75-74) after
a three-pointer from sophomore Wesley Platt (Jamaica Plain,
Mass./North Cambridge Catholic) with 14-seconds on the clock.
Rodgerson hit two free throws with
eight seconds left to push the Ravens lead back to three points.
UMass Lowell had one last chance to send the game to overtime, but
Inbar's 21st shot of the night from the top of the key
extended was well off the mark and Rodgerson pulled down the
rebound to seal the upset victory.
Franklin Pierce (2-2, 1-1 NE-10)
returns to action on Sunday for its home-opener when Stonehill
College comes to town at 3:30 p.m. UMass Lowell (3-1, 0-1 NE-10)
visits Merrimack College on Sunday at 3 p.m.
BOX
SCORE
