Ravens’ men’s basketball headed to playoffs with 80-69 win over SNHU
(Photo: fpuravens.com)
by Paul Lambert and Bryce Johnson
The Franklin Pierce Ravens’ defense forced turnover after turnover in an 80-69 victory over Southern New Hampshire University on Senior Day.
SNHU turned the ball over 20 times in total as Franklin Pierce’s defense, which struggled over the regular season, forced bad passes and awkward shots by the Penmen offense all game long.
With the win, the Ravens clinched a spot in the NE-10 playoffs and are guaranteed to finish the season with a winning record for the eighth consecutive year.
Franklin Pierce controlled nearly the entire game. After both teams went over three minutes into the first half without scoring, SNHU scored first on a Sean Montague dunk. A Falu Seck three-point shot on the next Franklin Pierce possession gave the Ravens the lead. They would not trail the rest of the game. The Franklin Pierce offense was led in the first half by Seck’s 13 points and Lolami Lola-Charles’ eight points and four rebounds along with a block and a steal.
After SNHU made a run late in the second half that cut the lead to seven, Franklin Pierce secured the victory on a sequence featuring an Isaiah Moore breakaway layup off a van Oostrum assist, followed promptly by a Seck steal, setting up another layup by David Bradbury Jr, sending the Fieldhouse crowd into hysterics.
“The game was fun,” said Fadojutimi. “There was a lot of emotions for our seniors in what could be their last game at The Fieldhouse.”
Daquaise Andrews led the Penmen in scoring with a game-high 31 points, and Justyn Lacy had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in the loss for SNHU.
The Ravens were led by Seck’s 27 points, six rebounds and six assists while van Oostrum added 10 points and nine assists in the victory, a career-high in assists for van Oostrum.
Franklin Pierce will finish the regular season this Tuesday on the road against Bentley, a team the Ravens are currently tied with for the third seed in the playoffs.
