HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. – Freshman guard
Dylan Napoleon scored a team-high 20 points, none bigger than his go-ahead 3-pointer with 48 seconds left, and the Drew University men's basketball team rallied late to beat FDU-Florham 78-76 Friday evening in the team's season opener and the first round of the New Jersey Small College Tip-Off Tournament, hosted by Centenary University.
The Rangers, who wiped out an eight-point deficit in the final seven minutes, will now face the The College of New Jersey in Saturday's tournament championship game at 3 p.m. back at Centenary. TCNJ defeated Centenary 89-82 in the second first-round game Friday night.
After the Devils went up 76-74 on a floater in the lane from Gina Romano, junior forward
Ben Manns missed a pull-up jumper from the right post, but swatted the rebound to junior guard
Marc Herasme on the left side. Herasme quickly flipped a pass out to Napoleon, who buried a triple from the top of the arc.
At the other end, FDU missed a jumper but was awarded possession when the ball went out of bounds and had a chance to work for the final shot. But Manns batted away a pass into the post, and senior guard
Taylor Perlmutter came away with the ball before being fouled with 10 seconds left.
Perlmutter made the first shot but missed the second. Romano drove the length of the floor but missed on a tightly-contested layup that was rebounded by Manns, who passed the ball away as time expired.
Senior guard
Andre De Los Reyes added 12 points while shooting 3-for-5 from 3-point range for Drew while Perlmutter finished with 11 points, tying his career-high as a Ranger. Manns posted 11 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, and sophomore guard
Erik Porch contributed 10 points.
Romano scored a game-high 22 points for the Devils.
Drew raced out to a 33-14 lead with 6:18 left in the opening half following a 3-pointer from junior guard
Ben Kipnis. The Rangers led 35-16 after a bucket from Manns with 4:46 on the clock, but FDU closed the half on a 14-2 run to pull to within 37-30 at the intermission.
The Rangers pushed their lead back into double figures following a 3-pointer from Perlmutter that made it 51-41 with 14:50 remaining. However, the Devils rallied once again, this time with a 20-3 run that made it a seven-point game with 10:52 on the clock. FDU nudged its lead to 69-61 on a pair of Frankie Denvir free throws with 7:14 left before Drew embarked on a comeback of its own.
Perlmutter kicked off the rally with a pair of free throws before Manns connected from downtown to make it a three-point game with 6:26 to go. Porch brought the Rangers within one (72-71) when he knocked down a 3 with 2:56 left, and Perlmutter tied it at 74-all with a triple from the right corner, setting up the dramatic finish.
Drew and TCNJ will be meeting in the tournament championship game for the third year in a row. Last season, the Rangers won 82-78 when Drew served as tournament host, and two years ago the Lions prevailed 103-102 in overtime at FDU-Florham.
