Sophomore Jeff Manchester scored 17 of his career-high matching 24
points in the first half, draining five three-pointers, to lead
Franklin Pierce to its second-straight win.
|
Ravens never trail, shooting 47.3%, in posting second-straight
win
Boxscore
RINDGE, N.H. (January 8,
2009) - Franklin Pierce University picked
up its second-straight win with an 80-61 victory over Pace
University in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at
the Fieldhouse tonight.
Senior forward Rimas
Varanauskas (Kaunas, Lithuania/The Winchendon (Mass.)
School) and sophomore Jeff Manchester (Gorham,
Maine/Gorham) combined for 44 points to lead four Franklin
Pierce players in double-figures. Manchester netted 17 of his
game-high 24 points in the first half, finishing 8-for-15 from the
field, including 6-of-12 from three-point range, to go with five
rebounds and three assists. Varanauskas notched his fifth
double-double of the season (seventh career) with 20 points and a
game-high 13 rebounds (four offensive) to go with four assists and
a career-best six blocked shots. He made 7-of-15 shots from the
field, including 2-of-4 three's, on the night.
Sophomore Kinard Dozier
(Dedham, Mass./The Winchendon School) added 14 points,
nine rebounds, two assists and three steals, while junior
Marcus Wellman (Monroe, Conn./Hamden Hall) chipped
in 11 points, aided by 8-of-10 shooting from the free-throw line,
four rebounds and three assists.
Junior Laurence McGhee
(Linden, N.J./Linden) led Pace with 15 points, six
rebounds (three offensive), four assists, three steals and a
blocked shot. Freshman Delroy Daley (Bronx, N.Y./St.
Raymond) added 13 points, nine rebounds (five offensive)
and two steals, while classmate Ryan Woods (Staten Island,
N.Y./St. Peter's) chipped in eight points and five
rebounds.
Senior Rimas Varanauskas notched his fifth double-double of the
season with 20 points and a game-high 13 rebounds to go with a
career-best six blocked shots.
|
Franklin Pierce finished shooting
47.3-percent (26-for-55) from the field, including 42.9% (12-28)
from three-point range, collecting assists on 22 of its 26 field
goals for the night. The Ravens built a 12-point (44-32) halftime
lead behind a 51.6% (16-31) shooting effort in the first half,
draining 7-of-14 three-pointers. Franklin Pierce posted a 25-22
advantage in points off turnovers, despite committing seven more
turnovers than Pace (21-14).
Pace shot 31.8-percent (21-66) for
the night, including just 4-of-17 (23.5%) from beyond the arc. The
Setters followed a 35.4% (11-32) first half shooting performance
with 29.4% (10-34) shooting over the final 20 minutes, hitting just
1-of-10 (10%) three's.
Franklin Pierce never trailed in
the contest, jumping out to a 13-2 lead just 5:44 into the game.
Manchester contributed six points to the opening salvo on a pair of
three-pointers while Dozier chipped in five points. The Ravens
would push the first-half lead as high as 14 points (22-8) on a
Manchester jump shot just past the midway point of the stanza. Pace
closed the lead to four points (26-22) with a 14-4 run, capped by a
Woods three, but Franklin Pierce responded with a surge of its own
to take a 44-32 lead into halftime.
Leading by 12 (56-44) with 9:10 to
play, Franklin Pierce embarked on a 10-3 spurt to put the game out
of reach. Senior guard Craig Shepherd (Grantham,
N.H./Trinity) opened the run with a jumper and
three-pointer, while Manchester added the exclamation point with a
three of his own and a pair of free throws. Pace would close to
within 13 points twice, but Franklin Pierce connected on seven
consecutive free throws down the stretch to ice the 19-point
victory.
Franklin Pierce (6-6, 3-4 NE-10) is
back in action on Saturday when it hosts Southern Connecticut State
University at 3:30 p.m. Pace (6-7, 4-4 NE-10) hosts the University
of Massachusetts Lowell on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
