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St. Mike's Men Fall to Franklin Pierce University, 74-54

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Created on Monday, 28 November 2011 01:03

Written by George Commo

St. Mike's Suffers First NE-10 Loss

Courtesy St. Michael's Sports Information

COLCHESTER, Vt. - After entering the day as one of only two teams with an unbeaten Northeast-10 Conference record, the Saint Michael's College men's basketball squad fell to Franklin Pierce University, 74-54, on Sunday in the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights slipped to 2-4 overall and 2-1 in the league, while the Ravens are 6-1 and 2-1.

Sophomore Mike Holton Jr. (Portland, Ore./The Winchendon School) netted 19 points for the hosts, hitting all five free throw attempts to help Saint Michael's shoot 16-for-17. Senior Tyler Schilling (Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka) added eight points, while junior Derek Knutty (Rocklin, Calif./Whitney) had seven points, two rebounds and two blocks in 11 minutes. Senior Tom Ward (Brighton, East Sussex, England/Saint Francis [N.Y.]) and freshman Dom Ditlefsen (Portland, Ore./Sunset) also added seven points apiece.

Junior Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn./Trinity Catholic) led all scorers by notching 21 for Franklin Pierce, shooting 5-of-7 from three-point range. Sophomore Curtis Christian (Harlem, N.Y./Holderness Prep) added 15 points off the bench, hitting three three-pointers, as the Ravens knocked down 10 triples and shot 52.9 overall from the floor. Classmate Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass./Northampton) also recorded 15 points.

The teams combined for four three-point possessions in the opening 2:38, with the Ravens grabbing a 9-3 advantage that Jean-Guillaume keyed with a pair of treys. The Purple Knights twice crept within one point, including at 14-13 on Ditlefsen's three-pointer at 13:23 of the opening period, before Franklin Pierce put together a 13-0 run, stretching the lead to 27-13 by 5:51. Another Jean-Guillaume three made it 32-19 before the hosts scored the final six points, all by Holton during the last 1:42. The Ravens held a 32-25 advantage at intermission.

Holton capped a personal eight-point run early in the second half before a Schilling bucket finished off a Saint Michael's 10-0 run, which brought the hosts within 32-29. Cooper and Schilling later traded a pair of free throws apiece, as the Purple Knights were behind by a 34-31 count, before the Ravens stretched their lead to 44-33 on two more Cooper freebies at 14:03. Ward canned a three to make it 49-41 at 11:07, but a lay-up by Christian with 10:07 remaining put Franklin Pierce in front by 11, and it led by no fewer for the rest of the contest.

The Purple Knights hit the road on Wednesday to take on Bentley University at 7:30 p.m. The Falcons received votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) preseason national poll.