Villanova overmatched as St. John’s crushes Wildcats behind Ejiofor’s triple-double

Zuby Ejiofor (24) recorded fourth triple-double in modern St. John’s history Saturday with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists as Red Storm routed Villanova. (Photo by Wendell Cruz/Imagn Images)

By Jake Copestick (@JakeCopestick)

NEW YORK — St. John’s played with a vengeance Saturday, one like it had just been throttled by 30 points in their previous game, missing its final 24 field goal attempts in a blowout loss at UConn.

Unfortunately for Villanova, they just happened to be the next opponent for the Red Storm. 

Also compounding the Wildcats’ misfortune was Johnnies head coach Rick Pitino declaring Saturday night’s game the most important of the season for his 15th-ranked squad earlier in the week.

And just to add the icing on the cake, Pitino even donned his famous white suit despite saying he would keep it hanging in his closet.

St. John’s used a combination of angst from Wednesday’s loss, coupled with an urgency from Pitino’s rallying cry to totally overwhelm Villanova from start to finish, crushing the Wildcats, 89-57, in front of a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden. 

The margin of victory was the largest for St. John’s (23-6, 16-2 Big East) against Villanova in the 135th all-time meeting between the two original Big East members.

After Bryce Lindsay opened the scoring with a tough right-handed finish, St. John’s responded right away, with Dylan Darling finding a wide-open Dillon Mitchell for an easy two-handed dunk. It was a fitting play to set the tone for the night. That jumpstarted an 11-0 run by St. John’s, who grabbed the lead and not only never gave it back, but never allowed Villanova to get remotely close to it. The Wildcats held the lead for just a mere 22 seconds in Saturday’s contest. They also trailed by 30 points before halftime. 

Offensively, the Red Storm poured it on Villanova all night, with Zuby Ejiofor recording just the fourth triple-double in school history, putting up 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists, while adding three blocks. The statistical feat put the senior forward on a short list that includes David Cain, Ron Artest, and Kadary Richmond. 

“I think (Pitino) has the perfect player in Zuby,” Villanova head coach Kevin Willard lamented. “Zuby and him really match so well together. I think that’s why they’ve been so successful.”

The Red Storm shot nearly 53 percent from the field, and for a team that isn’t reliant on the three-point line to score, made eight of its 15 attempts from long distance. Ten different players scored for the Johnnies on Saturday, four of whom, including Ejiofor, scored in double figures.

“Zuby was incredible for us as a five man to get 10 assists,” said Pitino. “He was well rested because he took a day off against Connecticut.”

However, it was the defensive side of the ball where St. John’s really put it to the Wildcats. The Red Storm scored 29 points off of 16 Villanova turnovers, with 18 of those points in the first half, the most emphatic points coming when Ian Jackson brought the crowd to its feet with a windmill dunk off of a turnover by Villanova’s Chris Jeffrey. It was one of five steals for Jackson, and two of a team-high 19 points for St. John’s. 

The size and brute force that the Red Storm’s front line possesses really bothered Villanova. Couple that with an aggressive duo of guards in Jackson and Dylan Darling, and it’s a recipe for an off shooting night.

St. John’s held Villanova to percentages in the thirties from both sides of the arc. Tyler Perkins, who had scored 15 or more points in 11 of Villanova’s last 12 games, was held to just six points. Bryce Lindsay, who made his first shot, went just 2-for-10 the rest of the game. Matt Hodge added six points in a season-low 13 minutes, because of injury. He tried to do a spin move in the paint early in the second half, and went down, unable to get up or put pressure on his right leg. Willard has no update on the severity of Hodge’s injury at the time.

“I thought that Darling is one of those guys who’s just a pest,” Willard said of St. John’s point guard. “Everyone looks at him like he’s not that good of a player, but man, he does so many good things. More than anything, I thought Darling set the tone defensively. He picked us up full-court, and then Jackson came in and just picked up that pressure.”

“And then you have their guards who know they can be aggressive because they have Zuby back there. It makes a huge difference. Then you have Mitchell who can really disrupt, you’ve got Bryce Hopkins, who played power forward last year, now playing small forward. That front line is really good.”

Willard worked for Pitino for a decade. He knows how intense he can be after a bad loss like the one St. John’s took on the chin on Wednesday night. He recalled what those times were like. They weren’t fun. At all.

“I’m not bullshitting you, I don’t have hair because of him,” he said. “I had a full set of hair when I started working for him. It’s the most miserable experience in life, like( you fear for your life everyday. Everyone laughs when I say that, but you think you’re going to get fired. It’s miserable. As he’s gotten older, he’s probably become more of a cranky old bitch than he was. You literally fear for your life when you walk in. Like ,when he walks in the facility, he’s walking in at 6:30 and you’ve been there since 5:30 thinking you have everything right. He comes in and asks you the one question that you don’t know. He’s that intense. He always has been.”

Pitino has a method to his madness. St. John’s responded in a big way, putting a beatdown on Villanova that the team from Queens had never done before.

For the Wildcats, it was their worst loss since a 93-56 defeat at the hands of Kentucky at Rupp Arena on February 9, 1997. Rick Pitino was the coach of that Kentucky team. Steve Masiello, now Pitino’s associate head coach at St. John’s, was a freshman walk-on for the Wildcats.

Willard is not overly worried about the result of the game. There are two games left for his team to fine-tune things before the Big East tournament, and ultimately, the NCAA Tournament. He offered the same message Saturday that he did a week ago after UConn ran away from his team in the second half.

“We’re going to move on,” he said. “We have two more games left. You get your ass kicked every once in a while.”

Kevin Willard quote book: St. John’s

By Jake Copestick (@JakeCopestick)

On St. John’s coming out with more intensity:

“I mean, no matter what, this was going to be a tough game. I worked for (Rick Pitino) for 10 years, so I kind of imagined what practice was like for the last two days with them. I think the biggest difference is that they’re a veteran team. (Pitino) knew that Zuby (Ejiofor) wasn’t going to come out and lay an egg, and he didn’t. He was phenomenal defensively, the way he was switching and communicating. Give them a lot of credit, they played well.”

On what he can tell his team after a loss like this:

“We’re going to move on. We have two more games left. Life happens. You get your ass kicked every once in a while.”

On St. John’s defensive intensity and physicality outside of Zuby Ejiofor:

“When Dillon Mitchell’s playing that way, their whole season changed once he started. He’s in the starting lineup, the guy doesn’t shoot, he doesn’t take shots. He’s just such a positive factor on every end. He knows how to move without the ball, he doesn’t look for the ball. I think the biggest difference is you’ve got Bryce Hopkins, who played power forward last year, now playing small forward. That front line is really good.”

On an update on Matt Hodge’s injury:

“No.”

On concern about scoring droughts on offense: 

“No, I mean, we still won seven out of our last nine games. We lost to UConn and St. John’s. Unfortunately, I caught UConn after they played their worst game of the year. It seems like God is punishing me for my sins.”

On Ian Jackson’s performance:

“You obviously didn’t watch the first time he played against us. He played much better the first time he played against us. He must be a big fan of mine. He’s good man, defensively, he gets after it. I thought that (Dylan) Darling is one of those guys who’s just a pest, and everyone looks at him like he’s not that good of a player, but man, he does so many good things. More than anything, I thought Darling set the tone defensively. He picked us up full-court, and then Jackson came in and just picked up that pressure. I think when they’re playing like that, and they made shots early, we knew they were going to come out. He started talking about they were shooting too many twos, and we gave them a couple threes. Zuby hit that big three late for that first run, that was kind of a killer. He’s a good player.”

On what Rick Pitino practices were like after a big loss:

“I’m not bullshitting you, I don’t have hair because of him. I had a full set of hair when I started working for him. Like, it’s the most miserable experience in life, like you fear for your life everyday. Everyone laughs when I say that, but you think you’re going to get fired. It’s miserable. As he’s gotten older, he’s probably become more of a cranky old bitch than he was. Like, you literally fear for your life when you walk in. Like, when he walks in the facility, he’s walking in at 6:30 and you’ve been there since 5:30 thinking you have everything right. He comes in and asks you the one question that you don’t know. He’s that intense. He always has been. He’s got the most energy of any coach that I’ve been around. I think he has the perfect player in Zuby. Zuby and him really match so well together. I think that’s why they’ve been so successful.”

On the 18 points off turnovers by St. John’s in the first half:

“What’s really good is that Zuby is so good at reading what you’re trying to do. So you try to set pick-and-rolls with your five man, he’s going to switch, you’re switching with Mitchell a lot too. So you’re really not rolling and taking advantage of that. And then you have their guards who know they can be aggressive because they have Zuby back there. It makes a huge difference. Then you have Mitchell, who can really disrupt. It’s a really disruptive team. We struggled with them the first time, and obviously we struggled again with them this time.”

On his message to the team at halftime:

“I wanted to come out and play better in the second half, I thought we did that for most of it. We got it back down to 17 for a little bit. Losing Matt was difficult, because emotionally, Matt is such a great kid. Malachi is out there for 30 minutes, which he isn’t used to. I love the way we came out for the first 16 minutes in the second half. The last four minutes were a little disappointing.”

Winthrop turns away Presbyterian on Senior Day despite Duncomb's absence

Winthrop honored its senior class before Saturday's win against Presbyterian at Winthrop Coliseum.  (Photo:  Brian Wilmer/Daly Dose of Hoops)

 

Follow @sportsmatters

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Though he was part of Winthrop’s Senior Day festivities, all eyes in Winthrop Coliseum were immediately on Logan Duncomb Saturday afternoon.

After Duncomb suffered an injury Thursday night at Charleston Southern, Eagle faithful were hopeful that he had avoided the worst. Duncomb, a Big South Player of the Year candidate, used the help of a mobility scooter to get onto the court to be honored as part of the festivities and wore a boot on his left foot.

Duncomb did not play, but a trio of his senior teammates filled the void.

Senior guards Kareem Rozier, Kody Clouet, and Daylen Berry combined for 47 points, while another senior, Ed Nnamoko, scored six points and grabbed four boards in a 74-70 Winthrop victory over Presbyterian before an announced crowd of 2,403.

“It’s atypical for kids – for people – in adversity throughout the course of the year to stick together,” Winthrop coach Mark Prosser said. “It’s easy to look around. It’s easy to see what’s next. It’s easy to think, ‘Woe is me.’  They don’t.”

“Adversity strikes and they just keep going. It had to be a quick turnaround. We had to figure out a way to try to produce what we were not going to have today. They came in with a great attitude. This isn’t work. Being around these kids every day is fun.”

While the Winthrop team may be fun, trying to shake off a tough Presbyterian team absolutely was not.

Winthrop (21-10, 13-3 Big South) broke the seal on what would become an 11-minute tug-of-war. Berry scored six of the game’s first eight points, but neither the Eagles nor Blue Hose could create separation beyond a three-point lead on either side. Clouet splashed back-to-back triples in a 40-second span to swell the lead back to seven and spark a 15-4 run that put Winthrop ahead, 32-20 at the 6:00 mark of the first half.

Presbyterian (14-17, 7-9 Big South) gradually began whittling away at the deficit, using a 12-5 run to cut it to 37-32 late in the first half. Forwards Jonah Pierce and Triston Wilson keyed the burst, tallying nine of the 12 points. Clouet knocked down two free throws late in the period to give Winthrop a 39-32 halftime advantage.

“The story of the game for us was really the start and the first half, I thought,” Presbyterian coach Quinton Ferrell said after the game. “The way we guarded in the second half was – outside of fouling – they couldn’t score in the half court against us. I think we held them to 32 percent in the second half.”

To Ferrell’s point, the Eagles hit just eight second-half shots in 25 tries. Three of those came in the first seven minutes of the frame, as Presbyterian notched another 12-5 spurt that leveled the contest at 44 with 13:37 to play. The game remained within a single possession for almost the final 13 minutes, as the sides continually traded punches.

After Winthrop snatched a 69-66 lead on a Nnamoko dunk with 2:55 remaining, Presbyterian got a pair of Carl Parrish free throws and a Jonah Pierce bucket to secure a 70-69 lead with just inside of two minutes to play. Pierce then drew his fifth foul seven seconds later, which left the Blue Hose without their two starting forwards after Jaylen Peterson had fouled out earlier.

After Berry made two free throws to give Winthrop a 71-70 lead, Presbyterian missed a three-point try on the other end. The Eagles then found Clouet on the other end, who knifed through traffic and made it 73-70 with 1:08 to play. Clouet then snatched one of his 11 rebounds on a missed Blue Hose layup, then took off toward the other end. Winthrop went for a layup on the other end, but Chidi Chiakwelu turned away the try.

This left Presbyterian with one last look to try to cut the Winthrop margin. The Parrish layup try spun off, however, and the Blue Hose were forced to foul Berry. Berry made one of two, which provided the final margin.

“On that last possession, we had one timeout left,” Ferrell said. “Carl Parrish had the ball and the defense wasn’t set. We were trying to get a quick two -- because we had enough time -- and play the foul game with one timeout. I didn’t want to call the timeout, because I was going to draw something up for him anyway, and he had the ball in his hands. He ended up getting into the paint, he drew the defender up into the air and just didn’t get the benefit of the call, and it just rimmed out.”

Clouet led the convocation of Eagles in Duncomb’s absence, recording a double-double on the day. Clouet scored 19 and boarded 11 misses – all defensive – to guide the Eagle effort.

“You have to be about the right things. You have to care about a common goal and winning. Kody’s that way, as well – just like everybody else in the locker room,” Prosser said. “I don’t think he cares about stats. I just think he wants to win. They’re all like that. He’s a terrific player. I wish he’d come a couple years ago when we recruited him the first time, but I’m glad to have him now.”

“It was a hard-fought game out there, but we pulled it out yet again,” Clouet said. “We’re just so together. I don’t think I’ve been a part of a team that – 10 seniors coming in, we only had five guys returning from last year – we’ve gelled from the beginning. We’re just all playing for each other and not for anything else other than that. We lost Logan. That’s a killer. It’s just about next man up.”

Rozier and Berry joined Clouet in double figures. The tandem scored 15 and 13, respectively. Nnamoko and Tai Hamilton combined for 10 points and nine boards in the post in Duncomb’s absence. Winthrop shot 36.8 percent (21-for-57) from the deck, with 30.8 percent (8-for-26) of their tries from three-point range finding the net. The Eagles hit 24-of-33 (72.7 percent) from the line.

Pierce logged his 16th double-double of the campaign, scoring 20 points and snatching 10 caroms before fouling out. Parrish finished one board shy of a double-double of his own, scoring 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 9-of-9 from the line. Wilson booked 12 on 5-of-13 shooting. The Blue Hose shot 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the field despite hitting just one three in 13 tries (7.7 percent). Presbyterian sank 70.4 percent (19-of-27) from the free throw line, including 12-of-15 (80 percent) in the second half.

Both teams will open play in the Big South tournament in Johnson City, Tenn., on Friday. The second-seeded Eagles have a 2:30 (Eastern) tip against seventh-seeded Charleston Southern. Presbyterian finished with the sixth seed and will open with third-seeded Radford. Game time is set for 8:30 Friday night. ESPN+ will handle the streaming coverage.

WINTHROP 74, PRESBYTERIAN 70

PRESBYTERIAN (14-17, 7-9 BIG SOUTH)

Pickett 1-7 0-0 3, Wilson 5-13 2-3 12, Parrish 5-9 9-9 19, Pierce 9-15 2-7 20, Peterson 4-6 0-1 8, Hudson 0-0 0-0 0, Bowden 0-2 6-7 6, Chiakwelu 1-1 0-0 2, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-54 19-27 70.

WINTHROP (21-10, 13-3)

Wilson 0-1 1-2 1, Rozier 5-16 3-3 15, Berry 2-6 9-13 13, Clouet 4-10 8-10 19, Nnamoko 3-6 0-0 6, Meo 2-6 2-2 7, Boyogueno 0-0 0-0 0, Kamarad 2-4 0-1 6, Hamilton 2-5 0-0 4, Hendawy 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 21-57 24-33 74.

Halftime:  Winthrop 39-32. 3-Point goals:  Winthrop 8-26 (Rozier 2-8, Berry 0-1, Clouet 3-9, Meo 1-2, Kamarad 2-4, Hendawy 0-2), Presbyterian 1-13 (Pickett 1-7, Wilson 0-3, Parrish 0-1, Bowden 0-1, Anderson 0-1). Fouled out:  Pierce (PC), Peterson (PC).  Rebounds:  Presbyterian 39 (Pierce 10), Winthrop 36 (Clouet 11). Total fouls:  Presbyterian 28, Winthrop 21. Technicals:  NA.

 

 

Princeton pounds Dartmouth in Ivy home finale

By Andrew Hefner (@Ahef_NJ)

PRINCETON, N.J. — Although Princeton has already been eliminated from Ivy Madness contention, the story of the Tigers is just starting, at least as far as Mitch Henderson is concerned.

Princeton, one of the youngest teams in Division I, did not even get to hold a senior night for its last home game of the season against Dartmouth on Saturday, as no seniors rostered meant no need for celebration. The future is bright, and the hope for many in central New Jersey is that the Tigers will get the chance to run it back next season with a more experienced squad. 

First, though, Princeton got the chance to play spoiler Saturday, taking down Dartmouth, 82-61, eliminating the Big Green from Ivy Tournament contention to end the 2025-26 home slate. 

“I can’t remember when we won last,” said Henderson, “Nice to get that. They deserve it. They played well, I thought, and that’s a good Dartmouth team.”

Princeton had not won in five straight Ivy matches, the most recent of which was a detrimental one-possession loss the night prior to Harvard, a game in which the Tigers at one point led by 17 points. The bounce-back thrust Harvard into second place in the Ivy League, but caused Princeton to fall out of a chance for a top-four spot in the Ivy, effectively ending its season as soon as the schedule comes to a close next week. 

Dartmouth, which entered Saturday just a place above Princeton in the standings after a loss to Penn the night before, needed either a win or a Cornell loss to stay alive, two scenarios that were not in the cards for the Big Green. Dartmouth did manage to start the game with some fire, though, taking a quick 7-1 lead over the home team, but quickly lost momentum as the first half chugged along. Juniors Jackson Hicke and Dalen Davis, two of three upperclassmen for Princeton, quickly caught the Tigers back up to the fast-paced Dartmouth offense, before sophomore Peyton Seals hit a huge three to tie the game for the first time since the tip. Seals picked up a career-high 20 minutes of action against Harvard on Friday, and has become a recent favorite of Henderson off the bench when big defensive stops are needed for Princeton. 

“He’s never stopped working, ever,” said Henderson of Seals. “He was in early today, playing his music in the gym by himself at 11, something like that. He was in early the other day, working on his post moves. He’s always working. I haven’t played him, my decision, and he’s been ready for his opportunities. He was terrific.” 

“Just getting more minutes, you get a better feel out there, get comfortable playing with the other guys,” Seals added. “So it definitely makes a difference when you’re out there for longer.”

Seals will no doubt be a major part of a strong returning Princeton class next season, as the sophomore has worked hard as of late to slot himself into a system that has been constantly shifting as the season progressed for the Tigers. 

“Obviously the season hasn’t been perfect or gone exactly the way we wanted it to go, but we definitely had some bright spots,” Seals said. “And without losing any seniors, we’re going to build on the bright spots that we have had this last week and going into next year because we’ve got the same group coming back, and it is a good group, and we all believe in each other.”

Improvements for Princeton came quickly as the game progressed, though. Davis and Hicke kept the scoring coming for the Tigers and two separate 10-0 runs put Henderson’s side ahead, 39-20, with just a few minutes left in the first half. Mixed in the scoring was key defensive and effort against the glass from a third junior, Jacob Huggins, who has been one of the strongest members of the Princeton team as of late. Huggins, like Seals, has earned himself many more minutes and starts as of late, amid the injuries and tough stretch, and has taken full advantage of his newfound opportunities. 

“We’ee sad to see the rest of our teammates, their season come to a conclusion,” said Huggins. “I think that's how it is at first, seeing Jack (Stanton) go down and CJ (Happy). It was rough, but everybody’s been stepping up and we continue to have good practices and kind of a next-man-up mentality, and for those who have played, be able to bring them into the group and give them energy and confidence to go out there and be confident in themselves.” 

Huggins finished the night with his first career double-double against a Division I opponent, and played key defense alongside Seals that kept Princeton ahead by double digits for much of the night. 

“Yeah, first, like, Jacob, a double-double is a big deal,” said Henderson. “Seeing number 12 go up there with two hands, and then also defensively, he provides, he just changes things for us on the defensive end, but I like what he just said because the most important thing with Jacob is that his energy is very contagious and all kinds of energy, but he is beloved on the team, and he doesn't love it, maybe, but he’s like a spirit animal, and when he’s great, his spirit is up, we’re up, and that’s a really cool thing in life to have that.”

Princeton rounded out the first half with a 43-28 lead on 58 percent shooting and 67 percent from three, numbers that have greatly improved as the season progressed for the Tigers. The second half started in a similar fashion with back-to-back treys by freshman Landon Clark, who reached 14 total points by the final buzzer. Hicke, Davis, and Huggins continued to get involved as well, extending a Princeton lead to as much as 23 while Dartmouth attempted to work its way back into a game that seemed out of its hands since very early in the game.

Unlike the game with Harvard, Princeton was able to carry its lead all the way to the end, adding consistent scoring before eventually checking in much of the bench in the final minutes as everyone took in their final home minutes of the season.

Hicke finished the night with 22 points and seven rebounds, continuing to cement himself as one of, if not the best raw talent on the Princeton squad, and he has only improved as the season progressed. Davis, who missed nine games this year with a leg injury, added 20 points and six assists of his own as well. 

Missing star guard Jack Stanton and CJ Happy for the end of the season certainly put a damper on the late Princeton push towards an Ivy Madness berth, but players and coaches alike of the black and orange remain clearly optimistic for what is ahead after a well-deserved summer break. 

“We were a couple juniors, a lot of underclassmen,” said Huggins. “Coach has told us the whole year what it takes to win in this league. I think at the beginning of the season, we really didn’t know that,  but now at the conclusion of the year, we have a way better understanding of what it’s going to take moving forward, and we’re just going to try to continue to get better so we can improve for next year.”

Princeton heads on one last road trip next weekend to Yale, a team it has beaten once before in 2026, but an extremely tough matchup nonetheless. 

“It’s really just, like, experience,” said Henderson of Princeton’s improvements as of late. “We’ve tried not to talk about this, but I don't think we’re that experienced. We’re learning what it’s going to take, and we have another opportunity to play against Yale, who is now the first-place team in the league, next weekend. I would hope that we would have an awesome week because that’ll take everything we’ve got.”

This will be the first season that Princeton misses Ivy Madness since its inception, yet Henderson remains unfazed by the end of the season coming sooner than expected.

“I think about next year an awful lot, but I’ve learned over time that you can't waste the present moment,” he said. “We have one more week with the team. I’ve had really good seasons where you kind of just want the season to be over, and I’ve never had a season like this. I wish we could keep playing. It’s a really good group and they like each other, and it’s  contagious. They’ve taught us a lot, and I would hope that, as Peyton (Seals) said, we have everybody coming back because maybe we’re the third-youngest team in the country. And then all of a sudden, you’d be the only team in the country bringing everybody back, maybe, which is insane.”

FDU overpowers LIU, stays unbeaten in NEC

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

TEANECK, N.J. — Every opponent is prepared for in a similar manner.

Each is respected and given the same attention to detail. Even with that in mind, as the minutes wore down and the opening tip was near, a few FDU assistant coaches remarked on how this one should be a battle, probably going down to the wire.

As it played out, it was anything but that.

FDU soundly defeated LIU, 82-49, at the Bogota Savings Bank Center on Saturday afternoon. The win improved the Knights to 26-4 (17-0 NEC) while LIU dropped to 18-10 (13-4 NEC).

FDU got going immediately, as graduate guard Madlena Gerke, celebrated senior day by burying her first three-point attempt of the afternoon. Kailee McDonald followed suit on the next possession with a three of her own. The Knights had a 6-0 lead that would increase to 16-5 with five minutes remaining in the first period. Heading into the second stanza, the Knights had a 30-8 lead. Even a cold shooting second ten minutes didn’t alter things. At halftime, FDU held a 40-22 lead.

Following the half, Kadidia Toure of LIU converted two field goals in the paint. The FDU lead was 14 with only two minutes elapsed in that third period. FDU maintained poise and quickly stopped any hint of an LIU run. Two McDonald threes helped FDU inflate its lead to 26 entering the final period. The final period saw the Knights stay in command.

Points of Emphasis

Tempo-free: LIU entered the contest averaging a 100 offensive efficiency in NEC play. For the game, FDU posted a superlative 126 on the offensive end while limiting coach Neil Harrow’s Sharks to a 75 offensive efficiency, 25 below their norm.

If there is a place where FDU is at the bottom of the NEC, it is in tempo. The Knights average 64 possessions per game. Conversely, LIU averages 71 possessions, a significant difference in tempo. The game’s tempo was 65. At the half, it was a 36-possession affair, which would equate to 72 possessions for the entire game. The pace slowed slightly, especially in the fourth period, but the point is FDU showed the propensity to get out in transition early.

“That’s one thing we wanted to address,” FDU coach Stephanie Gaitley said. “Pushing the pace a little more aggressively. We knew they were down a few players, so we wanted the opportunity to get some transition.”

Kadidia Toure: Back on January 17, FDU needed a field goal by Ava Renninger in the final seconds to escape Brooklyn with a 59-58 victory. In that contest, Toure was a game-high scorer with 22 points. The 6-foot-3 center is averaging 18.7 points per game and shooting 47 percent from the floor. For the game Toure scored 12 points. She shot 5-of-16 from the floor. Toure was matched up by one defender until she caught the ball down low. At that point, a weakside defender helped double-team the Shark standout. By the third period, she was so visibly frustrated to the point that after an aggressive foul, Harrow pulled her out, not wanting to risk her possibly being ejected for a flagrant foul.

“She’s a really good player,” Gaitley said. “She’s going to get hers. We just wanted different people to step up. She’s a really good player.”

Outstanding run by FDU: “Just take them one at a time, baby,” Gaitley said when asked about the recent dominance by her Knights. Since that narrow win at LIU in January, the Knights have had 10 of 11 games decided by double digits.

“I think our kids are locked in at this time of year,” Gaitley observed. “LIU is down a couple players, so we capitalized on that. But I think our biggest statistic was on the boards.”

FDU won the rebounding battle by a 53-26 margin, 19-10 on the offensive glass. Interestingly, Ava Renninger was the game-high rebounder from her guard spot with 12. Toure paced LIU with seven rebounds. Rebecca Osei-Owusu had five of her nine rebounds on the offensive end. FDU’s offensive rebounding led to a 17-7 advantage in second-chance points.

Spreading the wealth: FDU had five players in double figures. McDonald led the way with a game-high 18. Akeelah Lafleur had 11. Leah Crosby,Gerke and Reese Downey had 10 each. FDU had an overwhelming 30-2 edge in bench points. Toure and Solangelei Akridge shared LIU scoring honors with 12 each. Akridge canned four treys in the last period. With Toure exiting in the third period, LIU basically relied on the perimeter.

Notes: The Knights shot 41 percent from the floor and hitting 19-of-20 from the charity stripe. It was also a day that FDU celebrated its women’s basketball alumni. A postgame reception recognized Gerke with a touching video tribute and the alums. Before the tribute, Frank Gaitley, Stephanie’s husband, told everyone Gerke leads the team in 29 charges taken.

Former players Coco Vanderslice Lefkowitz (Gaitley’s sister) and Leslie Porschen, who both played in the late 1970s and early 1980s, were on hand. The two fondly recalled their playing days at the old FDU gym on the Rutherford campus.

Recent alums included Madison Stanley, Abby Conklin and Abby Babore. Stanley is an Iona assistant. Conklin is a video coordinator at Iona and Babore is a preschool teacher in New Jersey, as well as a grade school coach. All three spoke with reverence and program pride regarding this year’s team.

“I see last year’s team in them,” Conklin said. “Different players, different uniform numbers but a lot of confidence, grit, determination and not taking any plays off.”

Much has been said about the development of Leah Crosby and Rebecca Osei-Owusu. Add Akeelah Lafleur to the discussion. The 6-foot-3 freshman knocked down three from deep on the way to her 11 points.

“She’s getting more confidence,” Gaitley said of Lafleur. “She can hit those threes, that’s not by accident.”

LIU wraps up the regular season Thursday at Wagner. FDU hosts Saint Francis at 11 a.m. Thursday.