Balanced attack leads Ravens, who
score 22 points off 20 Dolphin turnovers
RINDGE, N.H. (January 21,
2006) - Franklin Pierce used a balanced offensive attack
in holding off Le Moyne College, 56-54, in Northeast-10 Conference
men's basketball action at the Franklin Pierce Fieldhouse this
afternoon.
Franklin Pierce took advantage of
20 Le Moyne turnovers (12 in the first half), turning them into 22
points at the other end, compared to 12 turnovers (just three first
half) for ten points of their own.
Junior Darryl
Minnifield (Boston, Mass./Brookline) led a balanced
offensive effort for Franklin Pierce with 11 points, hitting 5-of-8
from the field, to go with five rebounds, four assists and two
steals in 23 minutes off the bench. Senior Pierre Sully
(Jamaica Plain, Mass./North Cambridge) added 11
points, three assists and four steals, while classmate
Tom Sadler (London, England/Farmington (N.H.)
HS) totaled nine points and four rebounds. Senior
Justin Powell (Brookline,
Mass./Brookline) grabbed a team-best nine rebounds
(five offensive), while junior Sean Mayo (Saco,
Maine/Thornton Academy) snared seven boards (six
offensive).
Senior Corey Smith
(Gouverneur, N.Y./Gouveneur) led Le Moyne with 15
points (nine second half), hitting 5-of-11 from three-point range,
to go with five rebounds. Junior Matt Cooper (Fulton,
N.Y./Fulton) added 13 points (ten second half) and
seven rebounds, while sophomore Jason Holmes
(Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) finished with 11 points
(nine second half). Senior Sid Pond (Watertown,
N.Y./Watertown) chipped in a game-high ten rebounds
(four offensive), five blocked shots and three
steals.
Franklin Pierce closed out the
first half with a 16-2 run, scoring the last 11 points of the
stanza, to take a seven-point lead (27-20) into the intermission.
Sully scored a lay-up and three-pointer during the run, while
Sadler tipped in his own miss to give the Ravens the lead (21-20)
with 2:16 left in the half.
The Ravens scored four of the first
five points of the second half to build their lead to ten (31-21)
1:39 into the half. Le Moyne notched a 10-2 run to close within a
pair (33-31) after a Cooper jumper with 15:50 to play. Franklin
Pierce bumped its lead back up to nine (43-34) after a Sully jumper
with 11:52 on the clock, but the Dolphins again answered, pulling
within two (43-41) on a Holmes lay-up with 8:14 to go.
It was still a two-point game
(52-50) with under a minute to play after Holmes scored with 1:12
left. Minnifield scored a clutch leaner in the paint to put the
Ravens back up four (54-50) with 40-seconds left and after Smith
missed a three, Sully hit two free-throws to put the hosts back up
six (56-50) with 25-seconds to play.
Pond tipped in his own miss with
16-seconds to go and after freshman Jack Barrett
(Reading, Mass./Andover) missed a front end,
Damani Corbin (Brooklyn, N.Y./Frederick
Douglass) pulled Le Moyne within two (56-54) with
eight seconds left. Sully missed a front end with six seconds to
go, allowing the visitors a chance to tie or win, but Corbin's off
balanced jumper in the paint was off the mark with a second to
play.
Franklin Pierce (10-7, 7-5 NE-10)
returns to the road on Tuesday when it visits Saint Michael's
College at 7:30 p.m. Le Moyne (7-11, 3-11 NE-10) visits Southern
New Hampshire University on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
BOXSCORE
