Franklin Pierce Edges Le Moyne, 56-54
Balanced attack leads Ravens, who score 22 points off 20 Dolphin turnovers
RINDGE, N.H. (January 21, 2006) - Franklin Pierce used a balanced offensive attack in holding off Le Moyne College, 56-54, in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at the Franklin Pierce Fieldhouse this afternoon.
Franklin Pierce took advantage of 20 Le Moyne turnovers (12 in the first half), turning them into 22 points at the other end, compared to 12 turnovers (just three first half) for ten points of their own.
Junior Darryl Minnifield (Boston, Mass./Brookline) led a balanced offensive effort for Franklin Pierce with 11 points, hitting 5-of-8 from the field, to go with five rebounds, four assists and two steals in 23 minutes off the bench. Senior Pierre Sully (Jamaica Plain, Mass./North Cambridge) added 11 points, three assists and four steals, while classmate Tom Sadler (London, England/Farmington (N.H.) HS) totaled nine points and four rebounds. Senior Justin Powell (Brookline, Mass./Brookline) grabbed a team-best nine rebounds (five offensive), while junior Sean Mayo (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) snared seven boards (six offensive).
Senior Corey Smith (Gouverneur, N.Y./Gouveneur) led Le Moyne with 15 points (nine second half), hitting 5-of-11 from three-point range, to go with five rebounds. Junior Matt Cooper (Fulton, N.Y./Fulton) added 13 points (ten second half) and seven rebounds, while sophomore Jason Holmes (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) finished with 11 points (nine second half). Senior Sid Pond (Watertown, N.Y./Watertown) chipped in a game-high ten rebounds (four offensive), five blocked shots and three steals.
Franklin Pierce closed out the first half with a 16-2 run, scoring the last 11 points of the stanza, to take a seven-point lead (27-20) into the intermission. Sully scored a lay-up and three-pointer during the run, while Sadler tipped in his own miss to give the Ravens the lead (21-20) with 2:16 left in the half.
The Ravens scored four of the first five points of the second half to build their lead to ten (31-21) 1:39 into the half. Le Moyne notched a 10-2 run to close within a pair (33-31) after a Cooper jumper with 15:50 to play. Franklin Pierce bumped its lead back up to nine (43-34) after a Sully jumper with 11:52 on the clock, but the Dolphins again answered, pulling within two (43-41) on a Holmes lay-up with 8:14 to go.
It was still a two-point game (52-50) with under a minute to play after Holmes scored with 1:12 left. Minnifield scored a clutch leaner in the paint to put the Ravens back up four (54-50) with 40-seconds left and after Smith missed a three, Sully hit two free-throws to put the hosts back up six (56-50) with 25-seconds to play.
Pond tipped in his own miss with 16-seconds to go and after freshman Jack Barrett (Reading, Mass./Andover) missed a front end, Damani Corbin (Brooklyn, N.Y./Frederick Douglass) pulled Le Moyne within two (56-54) with eight seconds left. Sully missed a front end with six seconds to go, allowing the visitors a chance to tie or win, but Corbin's off balanced jumper in the paint was off the mark with a second to play.
Franklin Pierce (10-7, 7-5 NE-10) returns to the road on Tuesday when it visits Saint Michael's College at 7:30 p.m. Le Moyne (7-11, 3-11 NE-10) visits Southern New Hampshire University on Monday at 7:30 p.m.