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

RINDGE, N.H. (February 23, 2019) – For the 15th time under the leadership of head coach David Chadbourne, the Franklin Pierce University men's basketball team has qualified for the conference tournament after an 80-69 victory against Northeast-10 Conference and rival Southern New Hampshire University Saturday afternoon during Senior Day in The Fieldhouse.

With the win, the Ravens improve to 15-12, 11-9 NE10 and have bettered their 2017-18 win total by one game with one game to play. The loss sends the Penmen to 12-13, 8-12 NE10. SNHU is on the outside looking in for the final NE10 Northeast Division playoff spot while the Ravens, who can't drop to the fifth seed, can earn a bye if they defeat Bentley University Tuesday in Waltham. FPU has made the NE10 Tournament in six of the past eight seasons.

Seniors Amanie Craddock (Spring Valley, N.Y.), Lolami Lola-Charles (Aberdeen, Md.), Jeremy Arthur (Westbury, N.Y.), Gerard Gray Jr. (Washington, D.C.), Kevin Young (West Hempstead, N.Y.) and David Bradbury Jr. (Deep River, Conn.) were honored in a pregame ceremony for their contributions to the basketball program, athletic department and the Franklin Pierce University community. All five of the active seniors drew the start on this special occasion.

Raven junior guard Falu Seck (Washington, D.C.) tallied a team-high 27 points off the bench in 33 minutes. Seck was 10-of-14 (71.4%) from the hardwood, 4-of-5 (80%) from deep and 3-of-4 (75%) from the charity stripe. He also snagged six boards and came up with one steal.

Four other Ravens tallied double-digit points including sophomore guard Sam van Oostrum (Sheffield, England) who scored 10 points, handed out a game and career-high nine assists, snagged three rebounds and blocked one shot. Lola-Charles also stuffed the stat sheet with 10 markers, five caroms – two offensive, two steals, and one block.

Daquaise Andrews played in 39 minutes for the Penmen scoring a game-best 31 points, however, he was 1-of-10 (10.0%) from long range. Reserve Justyn Lacy manufactured a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

After a three-minute scoring drought, Shawn Montague kicked off the scoring with a one-handed dunk. Immediately after the dunk, Seck buried a left corner three to give the Ravens a 3-2 lead. With the game tied at five each, seven straight Raven points, an Isaiah Moore (Temple Hills, Md.) acrobatic finish, a Lola-Charles post push in and a Doyin Fadojutimi (Temple Hills, Md.) right wing transition trey upped the margin to 12-5. Holding a seven-point lead, Penmen senior guard Charlie Russo cut the deficit down to two possessions with a three off an inbounds play

Six consecutive points for the Ravens including a van Oostrum long stretch layup opened up the first double-digit lead of the battle 23-13. An 8-2 SNHU spurt brought the Raven lead to four 25-21 at the 6:08. Fadojutimi countered off an inbounds play drilling a right corner three upping the margin back to two scores, 28-21. Andrews made it a two-point game with a strong take to the rack, 29-27. The Ravens concluded the stanza notching eight straight points to lead by 10, 37-27 at the break.

Seck moved Pierce ahead by double figures for the first time draining a trailer three-point bomb at the 16:09 mark. Arthur opened up a 14 point lead following Seck with a top of the point trifecta of his own a couple of seconds later. A Lacy lay-in and a Russo trailer three made it a single-digit game 45-36 with 14:33 left. Arthur answered Russo with another wing three to increase the edge back to double figures, 48-36. Arthur's three-ball was the start of a 10-2 spurt, which included a van Oostrum hoop and harm to lead 55-38.

Two Andrews freebies at the 7:15 mark dropped the deficit to 61-50. Seck ended the Penmen comeback bid possessions later when he used a filthy cross over, put his defender on the ground and knocked down a step back three to lead 69-53 with five minutes to play.

The Ravens head out on the road to Bentley on Tuesday.

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/).