Blackbirds Fall at Fairleigh Dickinson, 78-65

(boxscore)

2/2/06 --Long Island saw its two-game win streak htitleed, falling at Fairleigh Dickinson, 78-65, on Thursday evening at the Rothman Center in Hackensack, N.J.. The Blackbirds drop to 6-12 overall with a 3-6 mark in Northeast Conference action and the Knights improve to 11-8 overall and 8-2 in league play.

FDU rolled out to a 10-0 lead before a lay-up and three-pointer by forward Esa Maki-Tulokas (Forssa, Finland) cut the lead to five (10-5). The Knights scored the next eight points, however, to regain their double-digit lead.

The guard tandem of Randy Jones (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and James Williams (DeSoto, Texas) cut the advantage to nine, 20-11, with 12:27 left in the first period. The Knights would erupt, scoring 17 of the game's next 20 points to take a commanding 37-14 lead.

The Blackbirds, trailing by as many as 23 in the second frame, pulled to nine (68-59) after a triple from Eugene Kotorobai (Richmond Hill, Ontario) with 1:16 showing but could get no closer.

Williams led the Blackbirds with 14 points and Maki-Tulokas added 13. Senior Aubin Scott (Hempstead, NY) had 10 points.

The Blackbirds travel to Sacred Heart on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. tip.