Monmouth defeats Fairleigh Dickinson Men’s Basketball, 83-62
Felton leads Knights with 12 points, seven rebounds.

Box Score

Hackensack, N.J. – Rahsaan Johnson (Washington, D.C.) scored 19 points and dished out nine assists and Jason Krayl (Point Pleasant, N.J.) added 14 points to lead visiting Monmouth past host Fairleigh Dickinson 83-62,  in men’s basketball action at the Rothman Center tonight.  James Felton (Jersey City, N.J.) gave the Knights a 12 point, seven rebound effort.  The loss dropped the Knights to 3-19 overall and 3-10 in NEC play.  Monmouth improved to 13-9 overall and 8-4 in NEC action.

            The Hawks opened up the second half by outscoring Fairleigh Dickinson, 16-4, and forced four turnovers over the first 5:39 to seize control of the game and build their largest lead of the contest, 61-38.  Russ Anderson (Chester, N.J.) scored six of his 13 points on the night during the run and Johnson netted five.  The Knights were able to cut the deficit to 14 at 73-59, but could pull no closer.

            Monmouth stayed hot from the field for the entire game, shooting 56 percent in each half, including 9-of-21 from three-point distance.  The Hawks’ defense also held the Knights to just 33 percent from the field for the game and forced a total of 25 turnovers.

            “We gave them a lot of open shots and they’re a good shooting team,” said Knights’ head coach Tom Green.  “Their match-up zone defense creates fits for everyone in this league and we didn’t have an answer tonight.”

            Johnson connected on 6-of-10 from the field and 5-of-6 at the free throw line, while Krayl hit 6-of-9 on his field goal attempts and also dished out five assists.

            Felton went 5-for-7 from the field.  Brandon Edwards (Southfield, Mich.) chipped in 10 points for the Knights, nine in the second half.

            Fairleigh Dickinson returns to action on Thursday, February 7^th, at NEC leading Central Connecticut State at 7:00 p.m.