Dozier leads team in scoring for third time this season

BOXSCORE

RINDGE, N.H. (November 23, 2010) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's basketball team played well on both ends of the floor in the second half to pull away for a satisfying 75-57 win over Saint Michael's at The Fieldhouse in Rindge on Tuesday night. The Ravens improved to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in Northeast-10 play, while the Purple Knights dipped to 2-3 and 0-2 in league action.

Senior guard Kinard Dozier (Dedham, Mass.) led the way offensively with 18 points as four Ravens scored in double-figures. Freshman forward Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) followed with 17 points and four steals, while sophomore guards Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.) and Nigel Van Oostrum (Sheffield, England) followed with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Guillaume also had seven assists and five rebounds to go with his point total. Van Oostrum added six steals and five assists.

Franklin Pierce shot 49 percent (23-of-47) from the floor, while holding St. Mike's to just 39 percent shooting (22-of-56).

Michael Holton Jr. led Saint Michael's with 12 points, while Derek Knutty followed with 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Ravens held a slim 35-34 lead at halftime, but quickly saw their lead disappear in the first minute of the second half as the Purple Knights scored four-straight points on a layup from Travis Warech and two free throws from Holton Jr.

St. Mike's pushed its lead to 40-36 a minute later, but the Ravens quickly countered with a 12-0 run to go on top 48-40 with 15:56 left in the game. Jean-Guillaume pumped in seven points to spark the surge.

The Ravens would not trail after that and slowly built their lead up to 12 four minutes later at 56-44 following a pair of free throws from freshman center Adrianos Vourliotakis Perolikaris (Anolargos, Athens).

Franklin Pierce led by as many as 23 in the second half as the Ravens sealed the win and evened their conference record. The Ravens forced the Purple Knights into 13 turnovers in the second half and scored 19 points off of those. Franklin Pierce also owned a 19-12 advantage in rebounds over the course of the final 20 minutes.

The Ravens shot 50 percent from three-point range (11-of-22) for the game and limited St. Mike's to just 10 percent shooting from long distance (1-of-10).

Franklin Pierce returns to action Sunday when the Ravens travel to Manchester to face Saint Anselm at 3:30 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).