MADISON, N.J. – It was a tale of two halves for the Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham men's basketball team as they watched an 18-point halftime lead vanish in a 69-65 loss to The College of New Jersey on Monday night.

The Devils (3-9) were in control in the first half but a second-half surge by the Lions (7-4) proved to be the difference in the non-conference matchup.

The two teams combined for 54 fouls in the contest, which led to 64 attempts at the free throw line.

Junior forward Donte Ali paced the Devils with 14 points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals in the loss.

The Lions were led by Eric Murdock Jr. who tallied 20 of his game-high 27 points at the charity stripe. The sophomore guard also added six rebounds, four assists and four steals to his ledger in the victory.

Sparked by the three-point shot, the Devils quickly opened up a 27-5 lead midway through the opening half. Freshman guard Jayson Hughes kicked off the 20-0 Devils' run with a trey and later connected on another before teammates Veon Lassiter, Michael Barber and Anthony Mitchell each knocked down one over the course of the six-minute barrage.

Defensively, the Devils forced nine first-half turnovers and limited the Lions to just 26.9 percent shooting over the stanza en route to the 42-24 halftime lead.

Bookended by a pair of Steven Kelly layups, the Lions stormed back with the first 10 points of the second half.  

After Derek Leohner rebuilt the Devils' lead to 15, 50-35, Murdock immediately answered, which set off a 25-2 run by the Lions. The Lions held the Devils to 0-of-10 shooting, including 0-for-6 from downtown during that stretch and scurried out to a 60-52 advantage with 4:13 to go.

In the final minute of regulation, the Devils clawed back to within one point after a trey from Steve Herdman and a pair of Lassiter free throws.  But with just 14 seconds to left to play, a crucial intentional foul whistle against FDU-Florham allowed the Lions to close out the victory at the free throw line.

Hughes battled foul trouble but still managed to reach double figures with 11 points, while Herdman chipped in with 10 points on the night.

The Devils return to action this Thursday, January 7 when they host College of Staten Island at 7 p.m.