Eric Jean-Guillaume scored 12 of his 15 points in the second
half to try and grab the win for the Ravens
WEST HAVEN, Conn. (January 11, 2012) -- The Franklin
Pierce University men's basketball team dropped a wild 65-62
decision to New Haven on Wednesday night at Charger Gymnasium in
West Haven, Conn. The Ravens lost their second straight to fall to
10-4 overall and 6-4 in the Northeast-10, while UNH improved to
11-3 and 7-3 in league play.
Sophomore forward Ellis
Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) led all Franklin Pierce
scorers with 19 points, while freshman forward Ryen Vilmont
(Philadelphia, Pa.) followed with 16. Junior guard
Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.) chipped in
with 15 points and senior center Adedamola Abu (Mattapan,
Mass.) notched 11 rebounds.
Three Chargers scored in
double-figures led by Jeffery Adkins 18 points. Justin Exum netted
13 points and Jeremy Williams dropped in 10 of his own.
The second half proved to be a wild
affair as each side held a large lead before the final frantic
minutes which saw both teams hit big shots to keep the game
competitive.
The Ravens held an 11-point
advantage early in the stanza at 35-24, thanks in part to a pair of
Vilmont free throws. However, New Haven countered by scoring 14 of
the next 16 points to go on top at 38-37 with 13:08 remaining.
Adkins rained in a pair of three-pointers and laid in an easy
basket to spark the run and Samir McDaniels capped with a driving
layup.
The Chargers would slowly add to
their advantage over the next several minutes, eventually going up
by eight at 52-44 with 7:50 left.
Franklin Pierce didn't fold and got
a triple from Vilmont and a pair of free throws from Jean-Guillaume
on back-to-back possessions to pull within three at 52-49 and make
it a one-possession game.
Eric Anderson threw down a jam
minutes later to extend UNH's lead out to 57-51, but again,
Franklin Pierce rallied to stay in the game. Jean-Guillaume and
Vilmont once again were the catalysts on this mini-run with the
former converting two more foul shots and the latter draining
another trey to pull the Ravens to within one at 57-56 with 1:48
left.
New Haven converted a couple
baskets over the next minute to go up by five (61-56), but
Jean-Guillaume pulled the Ravens to within two at the other end
with a deep triple of his own. Jean-Guillaume rained in another
three with :10 left to pull the Ravens within one at 63-62, but
that would be the last surge for Franklin Pierce as Adkins knocked
down a pair of free throws in the final seconds to seal the win for
the Chargers.
Jean-Guillaume had 12 of his points
in the second 20 minutes, including going 6-of-6 from the foul
line.
New Haven was able to rally for the
victory in the second half, thanks to its solid 46 percent shooting
(13-of-28) from the floor in the stanza. Franklin Pierce, though,
struggled on the offensive end and shot just 27 percent (6-of-22),
thus failing to capitalize on its 11-point advantage early in the
frame.
Franklin Pierce did hold a 35-34
advantage on the glass for the game. In addition to Abu's 11
boards, Vilmont and Cooper added six and five, respectively.
The Ravens used a 14-0 run on the
strength of five points from Cooper early in the first half to
build a 17-7 lead. Senior guard Nigel Van Oostrum
(Sheffield, England), Vilmont and Jean-Guillaume each
rained in a triple to add to the run.
Franklin Pierce kept its lead out
in double-figures for most of the remainder of the stanza in
building a 33-22 advantage at halftime.
Franklin Pierce returns to action
Saturday when the Ravens play host to Adelphi at 3:30 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).
