Men’s Basketball Season Ends With Setback to Pace in NE10 First Round

This Franklin Pierce University men's basketball recap is presented by Belletetes

RINDGE, N.H. (March 1, 2019) – Franklin Pierce University men's basketball sophomore guard Sean Fasoyiro (Houston, Texas) scored a team-high 14 points off the bench as the no. 4 Northeast-10 Northeast Division Ravens suffered a 74-61 defeat at the hands of the no. 5 Southwest Division seeded Pace University Setters Friday night during the NE10 Championship First Round.

With the win, the guests improve to 16-13 on the year and stopped a five-game losing streak. Pace will head to no. 1 Southwest Division rival Le Moyne College for the NE10 Quarterfinals on Sunday. The Crimson and Grey's season ends with a 15-14 overall record.

Fasoyiro shot a team-best 62.5% (5-of-8) from the hardwood in 19 minutes of play. He corralled five rebounds for Pierce as well. Teammate Jeremy Arthur (Westbury, N.Y.) was the only other Raven in double-figures racking up 13 points to go with two boards. Junior transfer Jameson Pierrelus (Martin County, Fla.) chipped in eight points and seven rebounds – three offensive off the bench and Lolami Lola-Charles snagged a squad-high nine caroms.

Four athletes reached double-digit points for the Setters including junior forward Peyton Wejnert who led all players with 22 points and 10 rebounds – six offensive. Wejnert was 7-of-11 (63.6%) from the floor and was 8-of-10 (80%) at the charity stripe.

The Ravens who recently ranked ninth out of 306 qualified NCAA Division II teams in three-point attempts took a whopping 29 treys in this contest. They only knocked down seven attempts for a 24.1% success rate. FPU also finished the duel at 35.1% (20-of-57) from the floor compared to 46.3% (25-of-54) from their counterparts. Pace took 10 more trips to the line and made seven more free throws than FPU while scoring 14 points off the 15 Raven turnovers and added 16-second chance points. FPU never held the lead in the contest.

Pace who shot a league low 27.8% clip from beyond the arc began the duel with a Greg Poleon right wing three pointer. Pierce's junior guard Falu Seck (Washington, D.C.) answered with an athletic up and under move through the middle of the paint to pull the Ravens within one. Setter guard Austin Gilbertson countered via a hoop and harm through the right side to expand the advantage to 6-2. Arthur then knocked down a catch and shoot top of the point trifecta off an Isaiah Moore (Temple Hills, Md.) pass to cut the deficit back to one at the 17:58 mark.

Seven consecutive points with five coming off the shot of Wejnert expanded the Pace edge to 13-5. Moore, Tyrone Chohen Jr. and Arthur all swapped threes to make the margin two possessions 16-11 with 15 minutes until the intermission. Six tallies in a row for the away team opened up their first double-digit lead of the game, 22-11. The Pace lead hovered around 11 until a Pierrelus trey dropped the Raven deficit to eight, 25-17 with 8:25 to go in the half. Pace would out produce the Ravens 14-4 over the final minutes to grow their advantage to 39-22 at the half following a Ray Montilus steal to Wejnert fast break dunk at the buzzer.

The Ravens early hole was too much to climb out of even though they outscored Pace 39-to-35 in the final 20 minutes. A Seck mid-range jumper and a Seck to Lola-Charles post dish for a two-handed left post slam moved the Ravens within 13, 39-26 two minutes into the new stanza. Pace senior forward Luke McLaughlin tipped home a missed Wejnert chance to bring the lead to 46-28. Two Fasoyiro freebies again made it a 13 point game, 52-39 with 10 minutes to play. Brandon Jacobs drove through the trees and absorbed contact for the and1 giving Pace a late 19 point, 65-46 edge. Pierce would battle back to come within 11, 68-57 at the 2:30 mark after an Arthur four-point play and three Doyin Fadojutimi (Temple Hills, Md.) free throws. Pace sank their free chances down the stretch to ice the game.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://www.fpuravens.com). 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://www.fpuravens.com/store). You can also follow the men's basketball team on Twitter (https://twitter.com/FPURavensMBB) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fpuravensmbb/).