Men's Basketball Falls at SNHU 54-49
Adrianos Vourliotakis Perdikaris tosses in game-high 15 points for Ravens
MANCHESTER, N.H. (February 5, 2011) -- The Franklin Pierce
University men's basketball team dropped a 54-49 decision to
Southern New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon at the SNHU Fieldhouse
in Manchester. The Ravens fell to 5-17 overall and 3-14 in the
Northeast-10, while the Penmen improved to 10-11 and 6-11 in league
play.
Freshman forward Adrianos Vourliotakis Perdikaris
(Cholargos, Athens) paced Franklin Pierce with a game-high
15 points, while also grabbing seven rebounds. Sophomore guard
Nigel Van Oostrum (Sheffield, England) chipped in
with eight points, while senior guard Kinard Dozier
(Dedham, Mass.) pulled down eight rebounds. Sophomore
guard Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.)
totaled five points and five boards as well.
Tory Stapleton netted a team-best 13 points for the Penmen, while
Cory Vejraska and Greg DeSantis added 11 points apiece.
Van Oostrum gave the Ravens a quick 3-0 lead in the opening seconds
of the game following a deep three-pointer, but SNHU didn't flinch
and scored the next 12 points to open up a nine-point advantage
with 12:10 left in the half.
Franklin Pierce did chip away at the deficit and a three-pointer
from freshman guard Andre Blackwood (Paterson,
N.J.) did pull the Ravens to within one at 16-15 with 5:27
to go in the stanza. SNHU, though, did not give up the lead and
knocked down two baskets in the final minutes to take a 20-17 lead
into the locker room at halftime.
The Penmen opened the second half on a 10-2 run to take a 30-19
lead, but the ensuing minutes saw them go cold shooting the
basketball. Franklin Pierce took advantage of SNHU's misfortune and
scored 15 of the game's next 20 points to pull within one at 35-34
with 7:59 remaining. Vourliotakis Perdikaris sparked the surge with
a pair of layups and capped it with another lay-in. Senior guard
Jeff Manchester (Gorham, Maine) also added a
triple during the rally.
The Ravens then used a 5-0 run minutes later, capped by a Van
Oostrum basket, to take a brief 41-40 lead -- marking Franklin
Pierce's first advantage since the 3-0 lead to open the game.
However, the lead was short-lived as the Penmen responded by
scoring six-straight points to take a 46-41 lead with 2:56
remaining in the game.
Corey Boland knocked down a three-pointer for SNHU moments later as
the Penmen went up 50-43, but Jean-Guillaume and Vourliotakis
Perdikaris drained back-to-back triples to bring Franklin Pierce to
within 50-49 with :12 to go. However, that was as close as the
Ravens would get as Southern New Hampshire converted four free
throws in the closing seconds to seal the win.
Franklin Pierce returns to action Tuesday when the Ravens travel to
Colchester, Vt., to take on Saint Michael's 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).