Ravens battle tough in first half; but struggle shooting in the second half

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (January 29, 2011) – The Franklin Pierce University men's basketball team dropped a 65-50 decision to Le Moyne on Saturday afternoon at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens fell to 5-15 overall and 3-12 in the Northeast-10, while the Dolphins improved to 9-10 and 7-8 in league play.

Senior guard Kinard Dozier (Dedham, Mass.) netted a team-high 15 points for the Ravens, while also getting five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Classmate Jeff Manchester (Gorham, Maine) was Franklin Pierce's other double-digit scorer with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc.

Franklin Pierce battled hard in the first half and only trailed by two at halftime, but the Ravens struggled shooting the ball in the second half, making only 21 percent (7-of-33) of their shots. Le Moyne, meanwhile, shot 60 percent (15-of-25) from the floor in the second 20 minutes as it pulled away for the win.

Kevin Roth scored a game-high 18 points for the Dolphins, while Nate Champion threw in 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Chris Johnson was Le Moyne's other double-digit scorer with 13 points, including 3-of-6 shooting from behind the arc.

The first half was tightly contested as neither side held a lead larger than six points. Sophomore guard Nigel Van Oostrum (Sheffield, England) staked the Ravens to a 25-23 lead with a little more than five minutes left in the half following a 15-foot jumper from the left elbow. However, Le Moyne scored eight of the half's final 12 points in taking a slim 31-29 lead at halftime.

Le Moyne's late surge carried over into the opening stages of the second half as the Dolphins hit back-to-back three's to open up a 37-29 lead with 16:56 to go in the game.

Junior guard Dayshawn Long (New York, N.Y.) answered with a triple of his own and Dozier followed by making a pair of free throws to pull the Ravens to within three at 37-34 with 15:31 left.

The teams traded baskets over the next several minutes before Le Moyne ultimately put the game away with an 11-0 run to grab a commanding 56-41 advantage with 6:38 remaining. The Dolphins led by as many as 18 the rest of the way in sealing the victory.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Wednesday night when the Ravens play host to Stonehill at 7:30 p.m. in The Fieldhouse in Rindge.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men's basketball, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).