DEWITT, N.Y. (2/4/23) – The Franklin Pierce men's basketball team suffered a narrow 84-81 loss on the road against Le Moyne College on Saturday afternoon, snapping a seven game win streak at the Ted Grant Court.

With the loss, men's basketball continues their fight down the home stretch of the regular season and falls to 14-8 (9-6 NE10) on the season. Le Moyne continues to sit one position ahead of Pierce in the conference standings, improving to 13-11 (10-6 NE10) overall.

The Dolphins claimed a 42-35 advantage entering the halftime break after a 18-of-35 shooting performance through the first half, with five baskets made from the three-point field. However, despite falling slightly behind in the opening half, the Ravens remained close enough to be a cause for concern for the host team, and with under eight minutes to play in the first half began to find their rhythm. Just over a minute apart, senior Brandon Kolek (Cumberland, R.I.) would cash in on consecutive possessions from behind the arc, and later would add a third three-point basket with 3:48 left to cap-off an 11-point first half. Sophomore Wol Maiwen (Auburn, Maine) would also stand out through the first 20-minutes for Pierce, going 4-of-4 from the free throw line along with a pair of baskets from the paint, scoring eight points in total.

Out of halftime, sophomore Sean Trumper (Ashford, United Kingdom) divided a pair of early Le Moyne baskets with a wide-open three-pointer within the first minute of the second half. However, the next handful of minutes would see Le Moyne slowly work their way up to as much as a 14-point lead, seemingly forcing the Ravens out of the contest with under 15:00 to play. Nevertheless, Pierce persisted, and eventually found themselves back within range on a brief 8-2 run, made up primarily of successful trips to the free throw line and capped-off on a right side corner three by freshman RJ Delahaye (Newburgh, N.Y.). Fast forwarding to the final five minutes of the half, with Pierce trailing 79-66, the Ravens flew out of nowhere with a 15-3 run, fueled by six points from three-range by Jarnel Snow-Guzman (Lynn, Mass.) to suddenly bring Pierce to within one point of the Dolphins, 82-81.

With time of the essence, the Ravens were forced to take a foul following a missed jump shot with 00:11 seconds left, allowing the Dolphins to escape with the win on a pair of free throws.

Kolek led the Ravens with 23 points from the floor, also mixing in seven rebounds with three assists in the loss. Sean Trumper finished the evening with 15 points scored, also with seven rebounds, and sophomore Mohamad Traore (Hyde Park, Mass.) broke into the double digit figures with 10 points. Wol Maiwen rounded out the notable performances for the Ravens, scoring ten of the team's 16 bench points in the effort, along with six rebounds. The Ravens had a great showing from the charity line, converting on 19-of-21 free throw attempts while collectively shooting 26-66 in field goals.

Men's Basketball will play host to in-state, in-conference rival Southern New Hampshire University this coming Tuesday, February 4^th with game start scheduled for 7:30 p.m.