WORCESTER, Mass. (March 11, 2012) -- The top-seeded
Franklin Pierce University men's basketball team dropped a 69-60
decision to fifth-seeded Bloomfield College on Sunday night in the
second round of the 2012 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball East
Regional Championship at Laska Gymnasium in Worcester, Mass. The
Ravens concluded their season with a 22-8 record, while Bloomfield
improved to 26-7 and advanced to Tuesday night's regional final
versus second-seeded Stonehill at 7 p.m.
Terry Hicks bombed in 7-of-8
three-point attempts and scored 21 points to pace Bloomfield, while
Matt Wafula followed with 18 points. Ahmad Harris and Kevin Udo
chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Sophomore forward Ellis
Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) led Franklin Pierce with a
game-high 22 points and he ripped down 11 rebounds to log a
double-double. Junior guard Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford,
Conn.) dropped in 21 points, including swiping three
steals and handing out a trio of assists.
Franklin Pierce struggled shooting
the ball as the Ravens connected on just 39 percent of their shots
(23-of-59). Bloomfield, on the other hand, shot 51 percent
(28-of-55) from the floor, including a sizzling 73 percent
(8-of-11) from three-point range.
The Ravens, though, came out of the
gates strong and got baskets from Cooper, Jean-Guillaume and senior
forward Adedamola Abu (Mattapan, Mass.). But
Bloomfield responded with a 10-0 run to grab a 15-6 lead with 14:28
left in the half. Hicks drained a pair of triples to aid the rally,
including capping it with a triple from the left wing.
The Deacons pushed their lead out
to 10 moments later at 20-10 on a Marvin Williams layup and
Bloomfield continued to lead by double-digits the rest of the half
in taking a 42-30 lead into the locker room at halftime. Cooper had
13 points in the first half for the Ravens, while Hicks and Wafula
paced Bloomfield with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Despite the first-half struggles,
Franklin Pierce didn't fold and quickly went to work chipping away
at the deficit. The Ravens opened the first six minutes of the half
on a 16-4 run to knot the score at 46-all. Freshman forward
Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Cooper
sparked the run with back-to-back three-pointers and Jean-Guillaume
followed with a three-point play on a layup and ensuing free throw.
Jean-Guillaume made a free throw moments later to tie the game.
Bloomfield, however, didn't fold
and scored 20 of the game's next 26 points to open up a 66-52 lead
with 4:47 left. Harris kick-started the rally with a layup and
capped it with a deep triple. Franklin Pierce tried to claw its way
back into the game, but Bloomfield's run sealed the victory.
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/FranklinPierceRavens).
