NEW HAVEN, Conn. (January 9, 2013) -- The No. 14
nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men's basketball team
could not hold a late lead and fell, 68-65, to Southern Connecticut
State on Wednesday night at Moore Field House in New Haven, Conn.
The Ravens fell to 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the Northeast-10, while
the Owls improved to 8-4 and 5-3 in league play.
Franklin Pierce held a 59-48 lead
with 10:34 remaining after forward Ant Lessane (Brooklyn,
N.Y.) knocked down a 15-foot jumper. It was Lessane's only
basket of the game, but it seemed to put the Ravens firmly in
control to pick up their second-straight win.
Southern Connecticut, though,
didn't fold and Rashamell Vereen threw down a dunk at the other end
of the court to ignite the Owls comeback. Vereen followed with a
layup, Trevon Hamlet tallied five-straight points and Tylon Smith
converted a pair of free throws during a three-minute span to pull
Southern Connecticut to within two at 61-59.
With Franklin Pierce's big lead
gone, it would go back and forth the remainder of the game,
including three lead changes in the final 3:20.
The Owls finally wrestled the lead
away from the Ravens at the 3:20 mark as Vereen knocked down a
three-pointer to make it 64-63.
Junior forward Ellis Cooper
(Northampton, Mass.), who tossed in a team-high tying 19
points, laid in a basket at the other end of the court to give
the advantage right back to the Ravens.
Vereern answered moments later for
the Owls as he worked his way to the basket before drawing a foul
and making both free throw attempts to put his team up one.
Those two free throws proved to be
the difference as the Ravens could not convert on several attempts
during their final two possessions of the game. Hamlet iced the win
with a pair of foul shots with just :13.
Hamlet pumped in 19 points for the
Owls, while Rashamell followed with 17. Smith was SoCo's other
double-digit scorer with 11 points.
Junior forward Adrianos
Vourliotakis Perdikaris (Cholargos, Athens) equaled
Cooper's team high with 19 points of his own. Both Ravens logged
five rebounds, while Cooper also dished out five assists, swiped
three steals and blocked a shot.
Franklin Pierce came out of the
gates flying and used eight points from sophomore forward
Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) to open up a 12-4
lead. But what proved to be a sign of things to come later on,
Southern Connecticut answered with a surge and scored nine of the
next 10 points to knot the score at 13-all. Vereen had four points
to aid the run.
The lead changed hands several
times the remainder of the first half before Smith pumped in a
jumper to give the Owls a 36-34 lead at halftime.
The opening minutes of the second
half remained close until the Ravens used a mini 5-0 run to open up
their 11-point lead with 10:34 left.
The Ravens return to action
Saturday when they play host to Le Moyne 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/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase
Franklin Pierce women's basketball apparel can do so on the
athletic department's online store at
athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)
