BRONX, NY – The St. Francis College Brooklyn men's basketball team (0-1) put forth a valiant effort on Tuesday evening, but fell to Atlantic-10 member Fordham (1-0), 68-59. Tonight's contest marked the first time that the Terriers and Rams went head-to-head on opening night since November 20, 2004.
St. Francis and Fordham came out in the first half trading buckets. The Terriers found their way in the opening minutes behind a pair of made threes by graduate guard
Unique McLean. McLean paced the Terriers in a strong debut as he led the way in the first half with nine points.
Freshman guard
Rob Higgins checked in off the bench at the 12:46 mark in the first frame and was a spark plug for the Terriers. The New Jersey native scored all nine of his points in the first half in his collegiate debut. After the first half of play, the Terriers and Rams were all tied up at 30-30.
The Terriers stormed out to a 16-2 run over the first 6:09 of play in the second half and took a 46-32 lead, the largest by either team in the game. During that run, senior forward
Deniz Celen scored six of the Terriers' 16 points from inside the paint as he scored on three consecutive hook shots.
Fordham answered the Terriers run as it went on a scoring flurry of its own to cut St. Francis' lead to one with 5:58 to play in the game. At the 3:04 mark, the Rams took the lead for good as it would not trail from that point forward. Despite a strong effort, St. Francis was topped by Fordham, 68-59.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
St. Francis Brooklyn – 59 | Fordham – 68
- McLean had a solid first showing as a Terrier as he scored a team-high 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and knocked down 3-of-5 from behind the arc. The 13-point performance was just one-point shy of McLean's collegiate career-high. Additionally, the guard pulled down a team-high eight rebounds in 33 minutes of play.
- Junior guard Chauncey Hawkins was the other Terrier to score in double-figures as he totaled 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the floor. The guard recorded four rebounds and three assists in his first start December 3, 2017.
- Higgins provided a jolt for the Terriers in the first half as he scored all nine of his points in the opening frame. The guard shot 4-of-8 from the field and dished out three assists in 20 minutes of play.
- Senior forward Deniz Celen added nine points on 4-of-7 shooting, grabbed five rebounds, and tallied three assists in 29 minutes. Fellow senior guard Rosel Hurley scored nine points as well on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and went 3-of-4 from the free-throw line.
- Freshman guard Trey Quartlebaum made his collegiate debut and logged nine minutes.
- Graduate forward Joshua Nurse and senior forward Milija Cosic made their returns to the court this evening after both missing the entire 2018-19 campaign.
UP NEXT:
The Terriers open their 2019-20 home schedule as they are slated to host Lafayette on Saturday, November 9, at 2 p.m. Over the past two seasons, the Terriers are 21-6 in games played at the Pope Physical Education Center. Last season, they defeated Medgar Evers in their home and season opener, 92-42. The meeting with the Leopards marks the second year in a row that the teams are set to meet. Last season, the Terriers earned an 84-72 road win over Lafayette on November 18, 2018.
