Eric
Jean-Guillaume adds 10 points for the Ravens in the
victory
RINDGE, N.H. (February 21,
2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's basketball
team is the 2012 regular season champion of the Northeast-10
Conference.
The Ravens claimed the crown on
Tuesday night with a 73-60 win in the regular season finale over
Merrimack in The Fieldhouse in Rindge. Franklin Pierce concluded
the regular season with a 20-6 overall record and a 16-6 mark in
the league, while the Warriors fell to 15-11 and 12-10 in
conference play.
Franklin Pierce's win, coupled with
Adelphi's 76-65 loss to Southern Connecticut State, enabled the
Ravens to claim a share of the league crown and earn homecourt
advantage throughout the upcoming NE-10 Tournament. The postseason
will begin for the Ravens on Sunday with a home quarterfinal game
at 3:30 p.m. against the winner of Friday's first round game
between eighth-seeded Bentley and ninth-seeded Assumption. Franklin
Pierce and Adelphi finished the regular season with identical 16-6
conference records, but the Ravens gained the homecourt advantage
in the postseason due to their 61-45 win in Rindge back on Jan.
14.
The title is the first NE-10
championship in program history and the first conference crown
since the 1995-96 season when the Ravens won the New England
Collegiate Conference (NECC) and advanced to the NCAA Division II
Tournament. That season also marked the last time the program won
20 games or more in a single campaign as those Ravens produced a
23-6 record. Overall, it is the eighth conference title in program
history. This season's Ravens also made the jump from last to first
in the conference standings in a single year, thus becoming the
first team in the expanded Northeast-10 Conference (from the
original 10 teams) to turn the trick.
Before Franklin Pierce could
celebrate a conference title they had to get past a surging
Merrimack team on Tuesday night, which had won 11 straight in the
series.
The Ravens were up to the task as
three players scored in double-figures, led by freshman forward
Ryen
Vilmont's (Philadelphia, Pa.) 18 points, including
four three-pointers. Vilmont also collected seven rebounds. Junior
guard Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.) netted
10 points, while sophomore forward Adrianos
Vourliotakis Perdikaris (Cholargos, Athens) came off
the bench to go 6-of-8 from the field and score 13
points.
Sophomore forward Ellis Cooper
(Northampton, Mass.) netted nine points and pulled down a
game-best 10 rebounds and senior frontcourt-mate Adedamola Abu
(Mattapan, Mass.) had nine points, including making his
first career three-pointer, which came on the opening basket of the
game.
Franklin Pierce shot a strong 50
percent (29-of-58) from the field, including going 40 percent
(8-of-20) from three-point range. The Ravens also got the scoring
done inside as they owned a 40-22 advantage in the paint.
Wayne Mack tossed in a team-high 18
points for Merrimack, while Mike Clifford followed with 16.
The teams traded baskets over the
opening stages of the game, but it was a late run in the first half
by Franklin Pierce which staked them to control of the evening.
Following a quick 6-0 run by
Merrimack, which put the Warriors up 25-24 with 6:33 to go, the
Ravens blitzed their opponents over the remaining minutes of the
frame. The Ravens scored seven-straight points as they concluded
the half on a 17-4 run to take a 41-29 lead into halftime.
The run began with Cooper
sandwiching a layup and two free throws around a Curtis Christian
(Harlem, N.Y.) three-pointer which gave the Ravens a 31-25
lead.
Mack stemmed the tide for Merrimack
with a jumper off the fast break, but Perdikaris and Christian
responded with a layup and three-pointer, respectively, on Franklin
Pierce's next two possessions. Sophomore guard Andre Blackwood
(Paterson, N.J.) added a layup and Jean-Guillaume scored
the final three points of the stanza to give the Ravens the
12-point cushion at the break.
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Senior forward Adedamola Abu knocked down his first career
three-pointer on Senior Night.
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Franklin Pierce continued to push
the pace in the opening minutes of the second half and pushed its
lead out to 16 at 55-39 with 13:29 remaining when Perdikaris
converted a three-point play on a layup and free throw.
Merrimack tried to claw its way
back into the game and did get to within seven at 61-54 with 9:31
left after Mack buried a deep three-pointer. Vilmont, however,
answered at the other end of the court with a triple as the Ravens
led by double-digits for most of the remaining minutes of the game
in sealing the win.
The Ravens concluded the regular
season with three-straight victories and are now 10-1 in the
friendly-confines of The Fieldhouse this season. Nine of those 10
victories have come by double-digit margins.
Franklin Pierce entered the game as
the No. 1 ranked team in the NCAA East Region Poll, while the
Warriors were ranked ninth. The Ravens went 7-2 during the regular
season against teams currently ranked in the regional poll.
Prior to the game the senior class
of Abu, guard Nigel Van
Oostrum (Sheffield, England) and manager Hollis Porter
were honored for their years of service to the program on Senior
Night. Van Oostrum finished the game with a career-high 11
assists.
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).
