March 3, 2005

HACKENSACK, NJ - Senior guard Tamien Trent (Moriches, NY) recorded his third double-double of the year with 20 points and 10 rebounds as second-seeded and host Fairleigh Dickinson used two big runs, one in each half, to defeat number seven seed St. Francis NY by a score of 78-60 in the quarterfinals of the NEC Men's Basketball Tournament on Thursday.

Junior guard Chad Timberlake (Brooklyn, NY) scored 16 points and junior forward Gordon Klaiber (Greenbelt, MD) added 15 points and five blocks for the Knights, who improved to 18-12 and advance to the semifinals where they will host fourth-seeded Long Island at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 6.

St. Francis NY was led by junior guard Tristan Smith (Amityville, NY) who netted 15 points, while sophomore forward Allan Sheppard (New York, NY) and junior guard Christian Brown (New York, NY) added 13 points each. The Terriers finish the season at 13-15.

The contest saw several ties and lead changes early on and the Knights trailed 14-13 at the 12:28 mark. Fairleigh Dickinson then put up a 15-0 run, capped off by a Trent three-pointer that put the Knights ahead 28-14 with 6:43 left in the period. Trent netted nine points in the spurt.

A jumper by senior guard Tory Cavalieri (Atlantic City, NJ) on the Terriers' next possession stopped the run, and a James St. Robert (Copiague, NY) layup cut the margin to 28-18, but Timberlake nailed a three-pointer to put Fairleigh Dickinson back ahead by 13 at 31-18 with 5:46 to go in the first half.

St. Francis would not let the game get away though, and the Terriers answered with their own 7-0 spurt, getting four points from Brown over a span of 2:36, cutting the deficit to 31-25.

After a Timberlake jumper put Fairleigh Dickinson ahead by eight, Trent converted a conventional three-point play to increase the margin to 36-25.

Smith scored the next four points for St. Francis NY, but senior forward Gadi Buch (Tel Aviv, Israel) nailed a pair of three-pointers in the final 39 seconds to give the Knights a 42-32 at the break.

Fairleigh Dickinson began the second half cold from the outside and the Terriers heated up, going on a 9-2 run as Sami Pekkola (Lahti, Finland), Brown and Cavalieri each hit three-pointers to pull within three at 44-41.

St. Francis NY cut the deficit to just two at 48-46 on a Smith jumper, but the Terriers would not pull any closer the rest of the way. The Knights exploded for a 17-4 run over a span of 9:16 to ease out to a 65-50 lead and stretched the margin to as many as 19 at 76-57 on an alley-oop from Trent to Timberlake with just over a minute left.

Trent finished 8-of-13 from the field and 2-of-5 from beyond the arc. Timberlake connected on 7-of-12 from the floor and handed out five assists. Senior guard Mensah Peterson (No. Brunswick, NJ) chipped in 11 points, five rebounds and four steals for the Knights.

Smith hit 5-of-12 from the floor for, including 3-of-5 from long distance for the Terriers. Sheppard went 6-of-10 from the field and added seven boards.