WAYNE, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham men's basketball team was defeated by the William Paterson University Pioneers 85-55 on Saturday afternoon in Wayne, N.J.
Junior forward Donte Ali along with a duo of sophomores, James Moran and Michael Barber each tallied nine points for FDU-Florham (3-6) in the loss to the Pioneers (6-4).
Moran and Ali set the tone early for the Devils, scoring 11 of the team's first 14 points. A quarter of the way through the opening stanza though, the Pioneers got hot and went on a 16-4 run to jump out to an 11 point lead.
As the Pioneers looked to extend their lead, Barber buried three consecutive 3-point shots to trim the deficit to seven and keep the Devils within striking distance. However, William Paterson responded with back-to-back 3-pointers from Zach Frick.
At the start of the second half, the Pioneers got a jolt of offense from Bright Mensah, who scored 10 straight points in the first six minutes. He finished the contest with a game-high 24 points.
The Pioneers lead grew to 29 with under 10 minutes left to play in the game after Pat Naguib buried a jumper to cap off a 13-4 run.
FDU-Florham struggled from the field in the second half, shooting 8-of-29 (27%) from the field and 1-of-13 from behind the arc. On the defensive side of the ball, Steve Herdman had three second half steals, while Derek Leohner picked up two of his own and had three for the game.
The Devils will travel to Colorado Springs to compete in the Colorado College Tournament on December 27-28. They will open the tournament against Wartburg College on Sunday at 7 p.m. and then square off with perennial powerhouse Wisconsin-Whitewater the following day at 7 p.m.
