EWING, N.J. -- The FDU-Florham men's basketball team suffered a 77-56 loss to The College of New Jersey Lions in non-conference action on Monday night at Packer Hall.

The Devils (1-11) were unable to slow the Lions' (5-6) attack and allowed the home team to shoot 46.3 percent from the floor and 43.8 from downtown in the contest.

Sophomore forward Donte Ali (Willingboro, N.J.) led the Devils with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and corraled two rebounds in the loss.

FDU-Florham struggled from the outset and connected on just two of their first 11 attempts, which allowed TCNJ to stake a 19-5 lead midway through the opening stanza.

The Lions piled on, and after a layup by Jayson Johnson, TCNJ had its largest lead of the period at 32-9 with 4:54 to play. However, FDU-Florham responded with a 13-4 run as Steve Herdman (South Amboy, N.J.), Kyle Jones (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Tymiak Hawkins (Philadelphia, Pa.) each drained a 3-pointer and Ali dropped in a layup before the halftime buzzer, which made it a 36-22 game at intermission.

TCNJ immediately thwarted the Devils' momentum by scoring the first nine points of the second half to rebuild their lead to 23 at 45-22. Skyelar Ettin was the catalyst for the Lions and tallied seven of TCNJ's nine points over that spurt.

Later in the half, Lions sophomore guard Eric Klacik converted a four-point play and extended the advantage to 60-31.

The Devils fought valiantly in the game's final minutes and closed the gap, which grew as large as 34 points, down to 21 points by the final buzzer.

Freshman forward Veon Lassiter (Elizabeth, N.J.) finished with seven points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes of action, while Herdman added seven points and three boards for the Devils in the loss.

Ettin and Klacik paced the Lions with 14 points apiece and combined to go 12-for-12 from the charity stripe.

Next up for the Devils:
FDU-Florham travels to the College of Staten Island a week from tonight, Monday, January 12 to battle the Dolphins at 7:30 p.m.