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Men's Basketball

Men’s Basketball Takes Battle Of Mad Ave Thriller

Drew 77, FDU 72

In one of the best college basketball games ever played in Baldwin Gym, Drew men's hoops beat FDU in overtime, 77-72.  Terrell Brown sent the game into OT with a driving layup in the final ten seconds of regulation and then scored four points in the extra period to lead the Rangers to a win in the Battle of Madison Avenue in front of a standing room only crowd at Drew.  FDU fought back from 12 down in the second half to put Drew on the brink before the Rangers came through in the clutch to give Head Coach Darryl Keckler the biggest win of his young career.  Brown finished with 19 points and nine rebounds while Ricky Fetske led all players with 25 points and 15 boards.

The game started with both teams throwing proverbial jabs with neither taking a commanding advantage.  Dylan Bulger gave Drew an early lead with a pair of pretty jump hooks, but the Devils and Fetske, in particular, got the Ranger big man in foul trouble.  The game was tied up for fourth time at the 11:30 mark when Mehmet Onen found Pat Dorsey for a cutting layup, 10-10.

A few minutes later McNeil Wrice and Kyle Joyce hit back to back threes to rally Drew from a basket down and build a four point lead.  That advantage would grow to 11 fast break buckets from Mike Mayes and Brown, threes from Onen and Wrice and a layup from Tony Ganter off Mayes' nice feed. 
FDU finished the half strong as Andrew Biancosino scored seven points in the final two minutes of play.  Brown's tip in as time expired gave Drew a 33-25 lead at the half.

The second half was full of twists and turns as Drew twice built what looked like commanding leads only to see the Devils battle back.  Bulger's free throw gave Drew a ten point lead just seconds into the half, but after five minutes of play in the second FDU was within one point.  The Devils went on a 13-4 run with only Mike Mayes putting up points for Drew.  Fetske was becoming a handful, but it was also FDU's point guard Adam Katz doing damage for the guests. 

Bobby Faiges' three pointer with 13:16 left again made it a one point game before Drew went on a 12-3 run sparked by Mayes.  A Terrell Brown tip-in made it 44-41 before Mayes scored seven of Drew's next ten points and had a sweet no-look assist on Kyle Joyce's fast break layup.  That 11 point 54-43 lead would eventually reach 12 at 58-46 with 6:45 left in the half.  The Devils' second rally came on at that point.  A jumper by Fetske and a fast break layup by Martin Johnson made it an eight point Drew lead before Biancosino's three point play made it five, 58-53, with 5:35 left.  A layup by Nnamdi Ekezie and free throws from Brown countered a jumper from Fetske as the Rangers held a seven point edge into the final four minutes. 

That lead was quickly erased by FDU.  Buckets from Faiges and Fetske made it three before Kate hit a free throw with 2:52 left to make it two points.  Katz's heads up play to steal the ball as the Rangers tried to call time out led to Fetske's game tying dunk with 2:40 left. 
Off the in-bound, Brown found Mayes for a tough layup in traffic, but Fetske again countered to tie the game for the sixth time.

In the final minute of play, Faiges' baseline drive drew the Ranger defense off Fetske who easily put in the go ahead layup with under a minute to play, right in front of the Drew Zoo outrageous student section on the baseline. 

With 33 seconds left, Drew had the ball and got it into Bulger in the middle.  The freshman could get hit jumper to fall, but Kyle Joyce was first to the rebound and saved the possession for Drew.  After a timeout, the Rangers swung the ball out to Brown on the right side of the court.  The sophomore beat his man off the dribble, but had his drive closed down by Fetske.  Brown banked it high off the glass and in with 11 seconds left to tie the game at 66-66.  FDU had a final chance, but the long three was off the mark.

Bulger again scored the first points of the period in overtime with a jumper.  After Drew forced a bad shot, Mayes found Tony Ganter alone in the corner.  The sophomore hit nothing but net for a 71-66 lead.  Back at the other end, Johnson hit a driving layup to bring it back to three.  Head Coach Darryl Keckler is now in his second year with the Rangers and perhaps that extra bit of experience helped him out today.  The Rangers were deadly after coming back from timeouts in today's game, scoring off inbound plays in four of six tries.  This time a long outlet to Mayes led to Joyce feeding Brown for a fast break layup. 

That five point lead didn't last long though as Katz hit a pair of free throws and then Johnson scored on a breakaway layup.  Up by just one with 1:20 left, Brown and Bulger again came up big.  Bulger grabbed a defensive rebound in traffic and then made a great pass from the top of the key to a cutting Brown for a layup.  That hoop would prove the decisive one as the Devils were unable to come back for once in the game.  Mayes hit a pair of free throws down the stretch – though the Rangers had eight foul shots in the final minute0 – to ice the game for the Rangers as the Drew Zoo sang long and enthusiastic versions of “Na-na-na-na Hey Hey Hey Goodbye” and “We Own Madison”. 

Mayes finished with 17 points, ten boards and seven assists while Bulger made the most of his 15 minutes with ten points, six boards and two blocks.  Ganter's solid 37 minutes included seven points, three boards and three assists.  Four Devils reached double figures in the loss.  Biancosino had 14 and 10 while Faiges and Katz had 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Rangers will look to put in a similar effort when they travel to take on Rosemont College on Saturday. 

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