Ryen Vilmont turns in heroic performance, especially late to lift the Ravens to victory

RINDGE, N.H. (January 28, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's basketball team clinched its first winning season in 10 years on Saturday with an impressive 70-55 win over Saint Rose at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens won for the fourth time in their last five games to improve to 14-5 and 10-5 in the Northeast-10. St. Rose dipped to 3-16 and 3-12 in league play.

The 2011-12 season marks the program's first winning record since the 2001-02 team posted a 15-12 mark that year. This year's 14 wins are the most since the 2003-04 team produced the same total that season.

Franklin Pierce also improved to 6-1 at home this season and is making The Fieldhouse one of the toughest places to play in the conference. All six of the Ravens wins in their friendly-confines have come by double-digit margins.

Freshman forward Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) had an outstanding game as he shot 8-of-12 from the floor (including knocking down five three-pointers), scored a game-high 21 points, grabbed four rebounds, dished out a trio of assists and swiped a pair of steals.

Sophomore forward Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) followed with a strong game of 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a block. Senior forward Adedamola Abu (Mattapan, Mass.) notched a solid 12 points (5-of-9 shooting), five rebounds and an assist.

The Ravens put on an impressive offensive display in the game as they shot 50 percent from the floor (29-of-58), including going 45 percent (9-of-20) from three-point range. Nine of the 10 Ravens that played scored. Franklin Pierce also recorded assists on 23 of the 29 baskets scored, including getting six helpers apiece from junior guard Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.) and senior backcourt-mate Nigel Van Oostrum (Sheffield, England). Eight Ravens tallied at least one assist.

Franklin Pierce posted a 34-26 advantage on the boards, including getting 15 on the offensive end which aided in their commanding 21-7 edge in second-chance points.
Dominykas Milka led the Golden Knights with 14 points and Brian Hanuschak added 12 with five rebounds. The Golden Knights shot a steady 44 percent (20-of-45) from the field.

The Ravens found themselves riding a comfortable 54-36 lead with 13:33 remaining in the game following back-to-back three-pointers from Van Oostrum and Vilmont. Vilmont knocked down another trey moments later to keep the Ravens lead at 18 at 57-39, but Saint Rose showed that it would not be that easy of an out.

The Golden Knights countered with an 11-3 run over a seven-minute span to pull within 10 at 60-50 with 5:22 left. Hanuschak and Milka were the catalysts of the run with six and five points, respectively. 

Milka made the first of two foul shots to pull St. Rose to within 10, but he missed the second one, which Vilmont collected for the defensive rebound. That miss proved to be the spark the Ravens were looking for as Franklin Pierce head coach David Chadbourne called a quick 30-second timeout to draw up a play to stem the tide being generated by Saint Rose. The timeout and the call worked to perfection on the ensuing possession as Jean-Guillaume slid a cross-court pass over to Vilmont on the left wing, who knocked down three-pointer from well beyond the arc.

Vilmont grabbed a defensive rebound at the other end, and again, converted it into points as he raced down the court for an easy transition layup off a nice feed from Cooper. The Ravens held a 65-50 lead at the time and Vilmont's heroics would prove to be the difference maker in holding off St. Rose's potential comeback. 

Abu made Vilmont's solid play at both ends stand up as he scored the final five points for the Ravens, including a pair of layups and a free throw to close out the win, which keeps Franklin Pierce in a three-way tie for second place, just one game out of first in the conference.

The opening four minutes of the game went back-and-forth with eight lead changes. The Ravens temporarily shook loose of the Golden Knights with a 16-3 surge to take a 23-11 lead with 11:32 to go until halftime. Cooper netted five points during the rally with a three-pointer from the right corner of the baseline and a driving layup down the center of the lane.

Sophomore guard Curtis Christian (Harlem, N.Y.) helped the cause with a three-pointer from the top of the arc, while sophomore forwards Matt Barboza (East Providence, R.I.) and Igor Lebov (Toronto, Canada) each laid in a basket.

St. Rose, however, responded with eight-straight points, including a capping layup from Andre Pope, to pull within four at 23-19 with 8:32 left. The Golden Knights continued to remain close and Rob Gutierrez rained in a triple with 5:55 to go until halftime to keep St. Rose within two at 29-27.

The Ravens had one more run left in them and closed out the first half by scoring 10 of the final 11 points to take a 39-28 lead into the locker room. Sophomore center Adrianos Vourliotakis Perdikaris (Cholargos, Athens) had a pair of layups during the closing rally.
Franklin Pierce continued to add to its lead in the opening stages of the second half before St. Rose tried to make things interesting with its late rally.

Franklin Pierce returns to action on Tuesday when the Ravens travel to Easton, Mass. to face Stonehill at 7:30 p.m. in Merkert Gymnasium.

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).