By Anthony Covino
Sports Editor
Kaleb Bishop scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to help FDU to its first Northeast Conference win Saturday, beating Bryant University, 77-73.
The 6-8 senior from Paterson led the Knights to their first road win of the season as they improved to 1-1 in NEC play and 3-10 overall.
The Knights snapped a five-game losing streak. Bryant fell to 9-6 with a 1-1 record in the NEC as well.
The Knights are currently sitting ninth in the NEC standings while Bryant is fourth in the standings.
Associate Head Coach Bruce Hamburger filled in for head coach Greg Herenda, who was ejected from the game following a technical foul.
“First and foremost I want to apologize for being ejected today,” Herenda said in a statement. “It was my fault and I let my team down. My guys surely stepped up and won a very tough road conference battle.”
With Herenda in the locker room, Bryant, with a crowd of 860 looking on, surged to a 9-point lead but the Knights battled back to go ahead, 68-66, on a bucket by Bishop with 4:30 remaining. He scored 6 points in the game’s final stretch.
FDU guard Jahlil Jenkins, who is No. 2 in the nation in minutes played, knocked in two free throws with 5 seconds remaining to seal the win and finish with 8 points. After eclipsing the 1,000-point career scoring milestone in his last game, Jenkins went 2-for-12 from the field. Brandon Powell contributed 13 and Elyjah Williams added 12 for FDU.
The Knights shot 29-62 (46.8%) from the field, 7-24 (29.2%) from three, and 12-16 (75%) from the free-throw line.
The Bulldogs were led by senior guard Adam Grant, No. 3 in the NCAA in 3-pointers, hit 7 and finished with 28 points. Freshman guard Charles Pride added 13 points. Bryant shot 25-69 (36.2%) from the field, 14-45 (31.1%) from three, and 9-14 (64.3%) from the free-throw line.
“This has been a very difficult stretch for our program but our players and staff have stayed together throughout it all and they all deserve the praise,” Herenda said. “We played FDU basketball for the first time in a long time. I cannot comment on the second half because I didn’t see much of it but, by the numbers, it looked like Kaleb was immense. Give (associate head coach) Bruce (Hamburger) and my staff a ton of credit. Those guys are awesome every day.”
The Knights continue league play on Thursday at home against Sacred Heart (9-6, 1-1) at 7 p.m.
Via FDU Knights Twitter
