Owings Mills, Md. (November 11) – The FDU-Florham men's basketball team opened the 2022 Stevenson University Tip Off Classic with a 65-56 setback to Maine Maritime Academy on Friday evening.
FDU-Florham (0-2) was paced by junior forward
Matthew Johnson (Oak Ridge, NJ), who registered 19 points on an 8-for-16 effort shooting from the floor. Junior
Michael Dabas (Middletown, NJ) and sophomore
Jamal Santana (Randolph, NJ) chipped in with double-digit point totals for the Devils with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Maine Maritime (1-0) was led by Curt Heinz, who tallied a 16 point, 16 rebound double-double, while Connor Tuerff posted a game-high 17 points on the night.
The Devils jumped out to an early 10-4 edge over the opening 4:17 of tonight's tournament opener. Over the opening stretch, both Dabas and Johnson posted five points. Maine Maritime answered with a 21-5 run to move ahead by ten points at 25-15 with 6:41 left in the first. Tuerff powered the Mariners with nine points and the team went 8-for-13 from the floor over the stretch for the ten point advantage.
FDU-Florham cut its deficit to as few as six points in the first half following a layup from Santana, but it was Maine Maritime which took a 34-25 lead into the break.
Maine Maritime maintained its lead throughout the entirety of the second half, but FDU-Florham was able to make it a four point game at 54-50 following a driving layup by sophomore
Carson Woods (Phoenix, Ariz.) with 6:55 to play in regulation. Woods' layup capped a 9-2 run by the Devils over a two minute stretch.
With 3:42 left in the game, Dabas hit a floating jumper to make it a one possession game at 57-54, but Maine Maritime closed the game with an 8-2 spurt to account for the 65-56 final. Both teams played a tight second 20 minutes of action as the Mariners and the Devils both posted 31 points in the stanza.
FDU-Florham shot 39.3-percent (22-for-56) from the floor, 17.4-percent (4-for-23) from behind the arc and 66.7-percent (8-for-12) from the free throw line. Maine Maritime shot 43.6-percent (24-for-55) from the floor, 38.9-percent (7-for-18) from three point range and 52.6-percent (10-for-19) from the charity stripe. As a team, FDU-Florham scored 28 points in the paint and eight points off of turnovers. Maine Maritime held a slim 37-35 advantage in rebounds (28-27 defensive).
FDU-Florham will play the loser of tonight's second game between Stevenson University and Hartwick College tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 pm in the consolation game of the 2022 Stevenson Tip Off Classic.
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FDU-Florham is currently running a campaign in honor of former Devils men's basketball head coach, men's golf coach and athletic director Roger Kindel.
All donations will go directly towards funding a complete renovation of the basketball and volleyball court inside the Ferguson Recreation Center with his name dawned on both sides. If you are interested in reading more about the campaign and/or making a donation to the cause, please follow the link here: https://support.fdu.edu/athletics/devils/giving/roger-kindel
