Men’s Basketball Struggles in NE10 Opener Versus Saint Anselm

MANCHESTER, N.H. (November 15, 2017) –  Doyin Fadojutimi (Temple Hills, Md.) was one of four Franklin Pierce University men's basketball players in double-figures with 15 points as the Crimson and Grey fell 95-76 in their Northeast-10 Conference opener to defending conference champion Saint Anselm College on Wednesday evening at the Stoutenburgh Gym. The loss was the first of the season for the Ravens as they dropped to 2-1 overall and 0-1 NE10 while the Hawks climb to 2-1, 1-0 NE10.

Fadojutimi drained 6-of-12 (50.0%) of his shot attempts while snagging four rebounds and coming up with one steal. Teammate and team captain Mike McDevitt (Cumberland, Maine) led all Ravens with 16 points and six boards. McDevitt is currently only 34 markers away from becoming the 34th member of the program's 1,000-point club. Falu Seck (Washington, D.C.) added 14 points and Gerard Gray Jr. (Washington, D.C.) chipped in 10 points in only three minutes off the bench.

The Hawks were led by the duo of juniors Cody Ball and Tim Guers who scored 28 and 18 points respectively. Ball's 28 points came in 26 minutes of play as he was on fire the whole contest draining 11-of-13 (84.6%) of his shot attempts including 4-of-6 (66.7%) from three-point land. Guers gathered seven caroms and dished out three assists as well. Teammate Taylor Fortin recorded a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 10 helpers.

After a strong start to the season this past weekend, the Ravens shooting went cold after a few days off as they converted only 28-of-74 (37.8%) of their attempts. The Hawks shot at a 53.8% (35-of-65) clip in the duel.

Guers opened the scoring in the contest as he hung in traffic and made a layup down low to push his squad ahead 2-0. Seck immediately deadlocked the game at two-all as he connected on driving layup from the baseline on the next trip down the court. Saint Anselm proceeded to go on a 17-4 scoring run to take a 19-6 lead following a Guers corner three-ball. Asante Sandiford (Boston, Mass,) answered back with a corner trey of his own to cut the Raven deficit to 10, 19-9 on the next FPU possession. Fadojutimi brought the contest to two possessions at 23-17 by notching a lay-in before eight consecutive points capped off by another Guers three-pointer from the right wing upped the Hawks edge to 14, 31-17.  

Following a full timeout by the Ravens, Seck went to work as he produced the next five points to cut the Raven deficit to single figures. The sophomore drove through the teeth of the Hawks defense and manufactured a layup then after a Devonte McCall (Amherst, Mass.) steal of Guers, Seck buried a catch and shoot long-range attempt from the top of the key off a Sandiford pass to decrease the Hawk lead to nine, 31-22. The Hawks responded by scoring 11 straight points to up their edge to 20, 42-22 with 5:06 left in the half. Franklin Pierce brought the Hawk advantage down to 17 four times using a McDevitt trey, a Sandiford layup, a Fadojutimi and1 and two McDevitt freebies but they could not come any closer as they trailed 53-34 at the games halfway point.

The Ravens turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, which resulted in 20 points for the hosts. In the second half, the Hawks increased their advantage to a game-best 31 points following a Fortin three-pointer with 8:27 left to play. Franklin Pierce cut the Hawk lead to 19 points over the final 4:47 of the duel as the Crimson and Grey left Manchester with their first conference loss.

The Ravens open their home slate on Saturday when they host NE10 opponent Southern New Hampshire University at 3:30 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens ), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men's basketball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).