LATEST HEADLINES

Saturday, November 17, 2007
Long night for Lafayette
Folks were in a foul mood Friday night in Easton, where Lafayette's defense was not the only thing that was fairly ridiculous about Fairleigh Dickinson's 98-92 win over the Leopards.

Lafayette never could get over the hump in this one, falling to 1-2 while Fairleigh Dickinson picked up its first win. The Leopards led twice, once in each half, each time by one point. But each time FDU responded with a run. The decisive one came in the second half, when the Leopards went on top 56-55 with 12:09 to go, only to see Fairleigh Dickinson put together a 13-3 spurt to retake the lead. The 'Pards closed it to 4 a few times, but never got back within one possession.

The Knights shot 54.2 percent (26-48) from the field, placing all five starters in double figures, in a game that started late (9 p.m.) and ran long thanks to a combined 76 free throws between the two teams.

As you might expect from the scoreboard, it was Fairleigh Dickinson that got most of the benefit of the 57 fouls called. The Knights made more free throws than the home team took, shooting 46 free throws, making 36. Lafayette, which had three players foul out and a fourth finish with four personals, was 18 for 32 at the line.

Andrew Brown and Bilal Abdullah both moved back into the starting lineup, and both finished with 18 pints, sharing team honors. That was not all they had in common. both fouled out at the 1:48 mark of the second half.

With the Leopards down 7 at that point, Abdullah picked up his fifth after Brown missed a three. Brown followed him to the bench after getting called for a technical. We'd love to tell you what the circumstances ere, but with a late start on a Friday night in the middle of high school football playoffs, no Lehigh Valley papers were on hand.

Matt Betley also fouled out, picking up two of his five in the final 41 seconds when the Leopards were forced to foul in hopes of extending the game. Betley finished with 8 points, 4 assists and 2 steals.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Also in double figures for Lafayette were East Carolina transfer Jeff Karl (10) and 6-3 freshman Dairunas (Jesper who?) Visockas, who hit 4 of 5 from the arc en route to a 15-point performance.

Lafayette was 30 for 68 (44.1 percent) from the field, including 14 treys (on 29 attempts). The Leopards hung in on the boards, with 33 rebounds (FDU had 36), and dished out 22 assists and turned it over just 14 times while forcing 22 FDU turnovers. But the deficit at the free throw line was more than they could overcome.

Labels: ,

Published at 8:11 AM by Hoop Time.
Help Hoop Time