Hot first half fuels Ravens to key
Conference win to open New Year
RINDGE, N.H. (January 3,
2007) - Franklin Pierce opened a 12-point halftime lead
and made it stand in the second half to post a 78-63 victory over
American International College in Northeast-10 Conference men's
basketball action at the Fieldhouse tonight.
Sophomore Timothy Munch
(Blauvelt, N.Y./Storm King Prep) led Franklin Pierce with
22 points (13 first half) as he hit 7-of-14 shots from the field,
including 4-8 from three-point range, and converted all four
free-throw attempts to go with a team-high seven rebounds and two
steals. Senior Nazim Senaldi (Istanbul, Turkey)
netted a career-high 17 points off the bench for the Ravens as he
hit 7-of-8 shots from the field to go with two assists, two steals
and two offensive rebounds. Sophomore Jack Barrett
(Reading, Mass./Andover) added 11 points, six rebounds and
three steals, while senior Darryl Minnifield (Boston,
Mass./Brookline) chipped in ten points, five boards and
five
assists.
Senior Magen McNeil
(Philadelphia, Pa.) led all scorers with 23 points (12
second half) for American International and in the process netted
the 1,000th point of his collegiate career. He hit
9-of-15 shots from the field and added nine rebounds, three steals
and two assists. Classmate Jenar Harrison (Queens,
N.Y.) was the only other Yellow Jacket in double-figures
with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting off the bench to go with four
rebounds and four assists.
Franklin Pierce hit 51-percent
(26-of-51) of its shots from the field, including 54.8% (17-of-31)
in the first half, while AIC shot 46.6% (27-58), including 44.1%
(15-34) in the first. The Ravens also enjoyed a 36-28 rebounding
advantage and out-scored the Yellow Jackets 18-6 at the free-throw
line.
The game was back-and-forth over
the first ten minutes of the first half before Franklin Pierce used
a 13-2 run to take a ten-point lead (30-20) after a Senaldi layup
with 9:05 left in the frame. Senaldi netted eight points during the
Ravens run.
A Harrison tip-in brought AIC
within nine (38-29) with 4:01 left in the first half, but Munch
netted eight-straight points (including a pair of three's) to
extend the Ravens lead to 17 (46-29) with 1:18 left before the
break.
Franklin Pierce settled for a
12-point (46-34) lead at the intermission, and the Yellow Jackets
continued to close the gap, cutting their deficit to six (46-40)
after two-straight McNeil layups with 15:40 to play. The Ravens
settled down and regained their double-figure lead (59-48) behind
four points from Munch and a pair of Marcus Wellman
(Monroe, Conn./Hamden Hall) free-throws with 10:13 to go.
Leading by nine (61-52) with 8:12
to play, Franklin Pierce sealed things with a 10-0 spurt, sparked
by three-pointers from Senaldi and Barrett to push its lead to 19
(71-52) with 5:14 to play, later extending the cushion to as much
as 20 at one point.
Franklin Pierce (7-6, 5-4 NE-10) is
back home on Saturday when it hosts Southern Connecticut State
University for a Conference clash at 3:30 p.m. American
International (5-7, 4-5 NE-10) hosts Holy Family University on
Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
BOXSCORE
& PLAY-BY-PLAY
