Ellis Cooper tosses in team-high 15 points and pulls down 10
rebounds for double-double
RINDGE, N.H. (December 7, 2011) -- The Franklin Pierce
University men's basketball team battled traditional Northeast-10
Conference power Bentley tough on Wednesday night, but the Falcons
were able to knock down several shots in the closing minutes to
down the Ravens, 70-60, at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. Franklin
Pierce had its six-game winning streak snapped and fell to 8-2
overall and 4-2 in league play. Bentley improved to 7-2 and 4-2 in
the NE-10.
Three Ravens scored in
double-figures, including sophomore forward Ellis Cooper's
(Northampton, Mass.) team-high 15 points on 6-of-11
shooting from the field. He also tallied a double-double by ripping
down a game-high tying 10 rebounds. Cooper also swiped three steals
and dished out a pair of assists.
Junior guard Eric
Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.) tossed in 13 points,
while reigning NE-10 rookie of the week Ryen Vilmont
(Philadelphia, Pa.) added 12.
Sam Leclerc led all scorers as the
Bentley guard pumped in 24 points. Dan O'Keefe followed with 15
points and nine rebounds, and Jasper Grassa collected a team-best
10 boards.
The Ravens trailed by just 3-to-4
points for a majority of the second half, but did finally go up
51-50 with 7:40 to go after Cooper scored four-straight points,
including forcing a steal at the defensive end and racing the
length of the court to throw down a monster jam.
Bentley didn't flinch and countered
with Leclerc knocking down a three-pointer on the Falcons' next
possession and Greg Jacques converting a three-point play minutes
later to make it 56-51 with 5:16 remaining.
Jean-Guillaume stemmed the tide
with a pair of free throws at the other end of the court, but
Leclerc answered again with another triple to make it 59-53 with
4:57 left. Senior guard Nigel Van Oostrum (Sheffield, England)
responded with a layup for the Ravens, but Leclerc came up huge on
the next series with another deep triple from the top of the
key.
Franklin Pierce couldn't come up
with the defensive stops late and could not get the crucial baskets
to fall as Leclerc and O'Keefe each hit another jumper in the
closing minute to seal the win for Bentley.
Bentley shot 41 percent from the
floor (21-of-51), but more importantly came up big behind the arc
as the Falcons knocked down 48 percent of their attempts
(12-of-25). Leclerc stroked five treys for the Falcons, while
O'Keefe added three triples of his own. Franklin Pierce managed to
shoot just 23 percent (5-of-22) from three-point range, but what
kept the Ravens in the game was an aggressive defense which forced
17 Bentley turnovers and scored 19 points off of those. Conversely,
Franklin Pierce turned the ball over just seven times and only
allowed the Falcons to net three points off of those.
The first was closely contested as
it featured four ties and 12 lead changes. The lead was never
larger than six, which came at halftime when Bentley took a 33-27
lead into the locker room after a three-pointer from O'Keefe.
Cooper and Jean-Guillaume each tossed in five points during the
opening 20 minutes for the Ravens.
Franklin Pierce returns to action
Saturday afternoon when it travels to take on UMass-Lowell at 4
p.m. in the Costello Center.
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).
