Curtis Christian knocks down a pair of three's off the bench and scores 10 points

RINDGE, N.H. (February 18, 2012) -- Sophomore forward Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) knocked down the game-winning three-pointer with just :00.8 left on Saturday to lift the Franklin Pierce University men's basketball to a thrilling 74-71 win over UMass-Lowell at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens, who are ranked No. 1 in the NCAA East Region Poll, won for the second-straight game and improved to 19-6 overall and 15-6 in the Northeast-10. Lowell, which was ranked fourth in the region, fell to 16-9 and 12-9 in league play.

Cooper's winning three-pointer was part of his game-high 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, while also collecting nine rebounds, swiping four steals and handing out three assists.

The Ravens held a 67-51 lead midway through the second half, but quickly saw it disappear as the River Hawks mounted a furious rally to get back into the game. Kerry Weldon laid in a hoop for Lowell with 3:04 remaining to pull the River Hawks to within one at 69-68. Both teams went cold shooting over the next two-plus minutes, but Franklin Pierce sophomore guard Curtis Christian (Harlem, N.Y.) was able to sneak behind Lowell's defenders for an easy layup with :51 left to give the Ravens a 71-68 advantage.

UMass-Lowell didn't fold and Akeem Williams, who pumped in a team-best 22 points, dropped in three of those with a deep triple from the top of the key to bring the River Hawks even at 71-all with just :21 left.

Franklin Pierce raced back up the court but couldn't get a shot off before a loose ball went sailing out of bounds. The loose ball, however, was last touched by Lowell, thus enabling the Ravens to try for one final shot with just :03 left.

Senior guard Nigel Van Oostrum (Sheffield, England) handled the inbounds pass and found Cooper rolling from the top of the arc to the right wing. In one quick motion, Cooper took Van Oostrum's pass and fired off a three that found nothing but net with only :00.8 remaining.

UMass-Lowell quickly called timeout to set up a final play, but Matt Welch's desperation pass the length of the court sailed over every teammate into the waiting hands of Franklin Pierce junior guard Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.), who held on as buzzer sounded signaling Franklin Pierce's 19th win of the season.

Franklin Pierce shot a solid 40 percent (6-of-15) from three-point range, including getting a pair from Christian who had 10 points off the bench. Van Oostrum added nine points, while Jean-Guillaume netted eight on an afternoon where he was honored prior to the game for topping 1,000 career points last week.

Welch tossed in 13 points for Lowell and Scott Tavares-Taylor added 12. Lowell shot 44 percent from the field (28-of-64) and three-point range (11-of-25).

Saturday's game had its share of back-and-forth play. Lowell scored six-consecutive points, including three's from Williams and Dipanjot Singh, to take an early 13-8 lead, but Franklin Pierce countered with an 11-0 run to go up 19-13. Cooper sparked the run with a three-point play and sophomore guard Andre Blackwood (Paterson, N.J.) added four points on a pair of layups.

Franklin Pierce continued to hold onto a slim lead before the River Hawks scored four-straight points on a Robbie Walton layup and dunk from Darrell Ward to take a narrow 30-27 lead with 5:33 left in the frame.

The Ravens, again, responded with another 11-0 run, highlighted by four points from Cooper and a triple from Christian, to go up 38-30 and eventually take a 41-37 lead into the locker room at halftime. Cooper had 18 points in the opening 20 minutes to pace the Ravens offensive attack.

The score remained close in the early going of the second half, but Franklin Pierce used a 9-0 surge over a two-and-a-half-minute span to take a 62-49 advantage with 10:30 remaining. Christian aided the surge with another three and sophomore forward Adrianos Vourliotakis Perdikaris (Cholargos, Athens) capped it with a pair of free throws.

The Ravens pushed their lead out to 16 at 67-51 moments later when Jean-Guillaume made the front end of a pair of foul shots. However, UMass-Lowell began its late-game run with eight-straight points, including three apiece from Welch and Williams, to pull to within eight at 67-59 with 8:02 to go.

Lowell continued to chip away and eventually tied the game before Cooper's heroics lifted the Ravens to victory.

Franklin Pierce came into the game with the No. 1 ranking in the NCAA East Region Poll, which was released on Wednesday. It marked the first time in program history the Ravens had achieved the top ranking in the region. 

Franklin Pierce returns to action Tuesday night when the Ravens close out the regular season by playing host to Merrimack at 7:30 p.m. in The Fieldhouse in Rindge. A Franklin Pierce win, coupled with an Adelphi loss, would ensure the Ravens the NE-10 regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming league tournament. It will not be an easy game for the Ravens as Merrimack enters as the ninth ranked team in the East region.

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).