By Anthony Covino
Sports Editor
The FDU Knights shocked the Robert Morris Colonials 75-70 on Sunday, Feb. 23.
The Knights, playing at home, improved to 9-18 with a 7-9 record in the NEC, while Robert Morris fell to 16-14 with a 12-5 record in the NEC.
“It was a character win.” FDU head coach Greg Herenda said. “Our senior captain [Kaleb Bishop] didn’t play and we had to step up and do the necessary things to beat a really good team and we did. We made mistakes and we made up for it. We just played hard. I told them at halftime to just go, you play for a coach that wants you to shoot the ball. That’s exactly what they did.”
Junior guard Jahlil Jenkins led the way for the Knights with 20 points. Junior forward Elyjah Williams had 17 points. Sophomore guard Brandon Powell added 15 points and redshirt junior guard Xzavier Malone- Key had 12 points. Freshman guard Brandon Rush added 6 points.
The Knights shot 28-50 (56%) from the field, 9-20 (45%) from three-point territory, and 10-11 (90.9%) from the free-throw line.
The Colonials were led by sophomore guard Dante Treacy with 23 points. Redshirt senior guard Josh Williams, junior guard/forward AJ Bramah, and sophomore guard Jalen Hawkins all had 10 points each. Junior guard Jon Williams added 8 points.
Robert Morris shot 27-61 (44.3%) from the field, 10-27 (37%) from three, and 6-11 (54.5%) from the free-throw line.
FDU now sits at 7th in the NEC standings while Robert Morris is third.
The Colonials have clinched a spot in the NEC Tournament, while the Knights have yet to clinch their spot. The Knights have a good chance to make it as a lower seed, but they would have to win both of their remaining games.
The top eight teams in the conference standings qualify for postseason play.
FDU will host Bryant on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. in their last home game of the season.
Kenneth Ramirez Castro
Junior guard Jahlil Jenkins was the driving force behind the Knights victory on Sunday.