Men's Basketball's Late Rally Not Enough in Tough 65-52 Setback to AIC on Saturday
Kinard Dozier and Adrianos Vourliotakis Perdikaris each score in double-figures for the Ravens
RINDGE, N.H. (January 22, 2010) -- The Franklin Pierce
University men's basketball team went on a late rally Saturday
afternoon, but could not complete the comeback as the Ravens
dropped a tough 65-52 decision to American International at The
Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens fell to 5-13 overall and 3-10 in
the Northeast-10, while the Yellow Jackets improved to 14-4 and
10-3 in league play.
Senior guard Kinard Dozier (Dedham, Mass.) led the
Ravens with 13 points, while also collecting seven rebounds,
handing out three assists and swiping a steal. Freshman forward
Adrianos Vourliotakis Perdikaris (Cholargos,
Athens) followed with 11 points and four boards.
A pair of Yellow Jackets scored in double-figures, including Allen
Aragbaye, who tossed in a game-high 20 points, while Isiah Wallace
followed with 18 points and nine boards.
Franklin Pierce shot a solid 46 percent (26-of-57) from the floor
and limited AIC to just 39 percent shooting (22-of-65) from the
field. The Ravens also held a dominant advantage at the charity
stripe as they made 85 percent (11-of-13) of their attempts, while
AIC was only able to shoot 46 percent (5-of-11) at the line.
Franklin Pierce even owned a 44-36 advantage on the boards.
Despite the advantage in nearly every statistical category, the
Ravens could not come up with the clutch shots late in the game as
they mounted their furious rally.
The Ravens trailed by as many as 11 in the first half, but did find
themselves trailing by just five (35-30) at halftime.
Franklin Pierce battled back in the early stages of the second half
and used an 8-2 run over a four-minute span to take a 42-41
advantage over AIC. Dozier kick-started the rally with a layup and
capped the surge with a jumper in the paint. Freshman forwards
Matt Barboza (East Providence, R.I.) and
Matt Washington (Hackensack, N.J.) each added a
basket during the surge.
The game would settle into a back-and-forth affair over the next
several minutes as the lead changed hands three times. AIC did
start to mount a rally of its own and a Ricky Hudson jumper with
8:27 remaining in the game lifted the Yellow Jackets to a 49-44
lead.
Franklin Pierce responded and got baskets from sophomore guard
Nigel Van Oostrum (Sheffield, England) and
Vourliotakis Perdikaris on back-to-back possessions to pull within
one at 49-48 with 7:19 to go.
But that was as close as Franklin Pierce would come as AIC answered
with the game's next 10 points over a five-minute stretch to take a
59-48 lead. The Yellow Jackets would cruise from there in earning
the victory.
Franklin Pierce returns to action Tuesday when the Ravens travel to
face Adelphi at 7:30 p.m.
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/FranklinPierceAthletics).