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FDU, Wagner Advance To Wednesday's NEC Men's Basketball Title Game

Knights To Host Cinderella Seahawks On ESPN2 At 7:00 pm

3/6/2005





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Quarterfinal Results
March 3, 2005

#2 Fairleigh Dickinson 78, #7 St. Francis (NY) 60
#6 Wagner 69, #3 Robert Morris 65
#4 Long Island 76, #5 St. Francis (PA) 67
#1 Monmouth 54, #8 Cent. Conn. St. 53
 
Semifinal Results
March 6, 2005
 
#6 Wagner 63, #1 Monmouth 60
#2 Fairleigh Dickinson 70, #4 Long Island 62
 
NEC Championship
March 9, 2005
 
Wagner at Fairleigh Dickinson, 7:00 pm (ESPN2)


Northeast Conference Tournament Semifinal Game Recaps

#2 Fairleigh Dickinson 70, #4 Long Island 62
Box Score

Hackensack, NJ -- The host and second-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson Knights overcame a 14-point deficit midway through the second half to defeat fourth-seeded Long Island University by a score of 70-62 in the NEC Tournament semifinals on Sunday evening in front of a crowd of 1,860 at the Rothman Center.  The victory gives the Knights (19-12) the right to host No. 6 seed Wagner in the NEC Championship game on Wednesday, March 9, at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN2).  The Seahawks upset top-seeded Monmouth earlier in the day 63-60. The NEC champion will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Senior guard Tamien Trent (Moriches, NY) led the Knights with 18 points, 16 of them coming in the second half. Junior forward Gordon Klaiber (Greenbelt, MD) added 16 points, eight boards and five assists. Senior guard Mensah Peterson (No. Brunswick, NJ) chipped in 12 points for Fairleigh Dickinson.
 
Senior Center Derek Bell (Brooklyn, NY) led the Blackbirds with a game-high 31 points and pulled in seven boards. Freshman guard Randy Jones (West Palm Beach, FL) chipped in 10 points for Long Island as they finish the season at 14-15.
 
Trailing 32-19 at the break, Fairleigh Dickinson opened up the second half with a 14-5 spurt, getting a pair of three-pointers from both Peterson and Trent, to cut the deficit to four at 37-33.
 
The Blackbirds answered with a 12-2 run as Bell scored six points and they built their largest lead of the game at 49-35 with 10:49 left.
 
The Knights began to chip away again and found themselves down by eight at 52-44 when they ran off 17 straight points, including a jumper by Klaiber on a feed from Trent that gave Fairleigh Dickinson its first lead since early in the contest at 53-52 with 5:54 remaining. Fairleigh Dickinson extended the run to 26-3, pulling ahead 61-52 with 2:45 as Klaiber hit the first of a two-shot foul.
 
Long Island scored the next four points on a layup by sophomore guard James Williams (DeSoto, TX) and another layup from Bell to trim the margin to five, 61-56 with 1:09 left.  The Blackbirds would pull no closer though, as Fairleigh Dickinson went 9-of-10 at the free throw line in the final minute to put the game away.
 
Neither team got off to a strong start as Long Island missed its first three shots from the floor and Fairleigh Dickinson hit 3-of-8 to edge out to an early 6-0 lead.
 
A three-pointer by Jones got the Blackbirds on the scoreboard and started a 10-0 run that gave Long Island a 10-6 advantage with 12:09 left in the first half.
 
The Blackbirds held a 14-10 lead at the 9:21 mark when they exploded for a 10-1 run that increased the margin to 24-11 with 6:26 to go in the first period.
 
The Knights began to warm up from the outside a bit and went on an 8-0 spurt, capped off by a Gadi Buch (Tel Aviv, Isreal) three-pointer from the top of the key, cutting the deficit to 24-19 at the 4:44 mark.
 
Bell scored the next eight points for Long Island over the final 4:19 of the half to give the Blackbirds a 32-19 lead at the break.
 
Trent finished 5-of-9 from the field, 2-of-2 beyond the arc and 6-of-8 at the charity stripe. Klaiber went 5-of-17 from the floor and 6-of-10 at the free throw line, while adding a pair of blocked shots.
 
Bell went 13-of-19 from the field as he dominated inside and went 5-of-6 at the free throw line. Junior guard Aubin Scott (Hempstead, NY) pulled in a game-high 13 rebounds for the Blackbirds.


#6 Wagner 63, #1 Monmouth 60
Box Score

West Long Branch, NJ -- The Northeast Conference’s hottest team remained that way, getting 18 points from freshman guard Mark Porter (Atlantic City, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) in Wagner’s 63-60 upset over No. 1 seed Monmouth in the NEC Tournament semifinals Sunday at Boylan Gymnasium. With New Jersey Acting Governor Richard Codey in attendance, Wagner advances to the Northeast Conference Championship Game, where it will travel to face the winner of the Sunday evening’s Long Island/Fairleigh Dickinson contest, on Wednesday, March 9. That game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. Wagner last appeared in the title game in 2003, when it defeated St. Francis (N.Y.).

The sixth-seeded Seahawks (13-16) have won five in a row and 11 of their last 12 games. Monmouth, the defending NEC champion, concludes its season at 16-13.

Wagner trailed, 39-32, at the half, but locked down on defense in the second. WC limited Monmouth to 29-percent shooting (7-of-24) from the field after halftime, including a staggering 0-of-14 from 3-point range. Wagner also played nearly the entire game without the services of the NEC’s leading rebounder, senior forward Sean Muson (Berryville, Va./Clark County), who left the game after two minutes with a back injury and did not return.

Monmouth’s pair of 1,000-point scorers, seniors Blake Hamilton (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) and Dwayne Byfield (Elmont, N.Y./St. Mary’s) led the Hawks, tallying 17 and 15 points, respectively, to end their standout careers. Junior guard Chris Kenny (Spring Lake, N.J./Christian Brothers Academy) added 11 points and five rebounds for the Blue and White.

Also for the Seahawks, junior guard DeEarnest McLemore (Cary, N.C./Cary) added 11 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Monmouth took a nine-point lead on Hamilton’s layup to open the second half at 41-32. Later, junior guard Tyler Azzarelli (Tampa, Fla./H.B. Plant) gave the Hawks a 46-43 edge with 12:50 left, but then Wagner took over.

Porter started a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer to tie the score at 46-46. Freshman forward James Ulrich (Mount Laurel, N.J./Camden Catholic) gave Wagner a 48-46 lead with two free throws, then Porter knocked down a 10-foot pull-up jumper to make it 50-46 with 8:08 showing on the clock.

Wagner would later push its lead to 57-50 after Porter drew a foul shooting a 3-pointer and subsequently converted all three free throws at 4:51.

Monmouth’s last gasp came with four seconds left. Kenny dropped a jumper, pulling the Hawks to within 63-60. MU immediately fouled freshman forward Justin Drummond (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh), who missed both free throws. Monmouth rushed up court, but junior guard Dejan Delic’s (Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro/Bridgton Academy) 35-footer missed off the backboard.

Byfield, who missed Monmouth’s quarterfinal win over Central Connecticut State with an ankle injury, staked the Hawks to a 39-32 halftime lead when he scored all 15 of his points, including 4-of-5 from 3-point territory. Monmouth went 8-of-14 from behind the arc in the first half in all and shot 52 percent (12-of-23) overall for the period.