Stevens jumped out to an 18-10 lead at the 13:51 mark of the first half but the Devils went on an 11-1 run to go ahead, 21-19, with 6:52 left in the half. Schmitt and sophomore forward Andrew Biancosino (Edison, NJ/JP Stevens) each had four points during the spurt.
After the Ducks tied it at 21-21, FDU went on a 10-3 run, with Schmitt scoring six of the 10 points, to go into halftime with a 31-24 lead.
After two Schmitt free throws to give the Devils a 41-34 lead with 15:33 left to play, the Ducks went on a 16-6 run and took the lead, 50-47, on a three-pointer by freshman guard George Greco (Rockville Centre, NY/Oceanside) with 10:57 left to play. Junior guard Waleed Farid (Woodside, NY/Stuyvesant) and sophomore guard Virgil Gray II (Elmwood Park, NJ/Bergen Catholic) each had four points during the run.
The Devils didn’t get down however, answering right back to retake the lead 53-50. After some back and forth action, FDU went on a 9-0 run to go up 62-54 with 4:23 left. Senior guards Frank Emslie (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan) and Cody Chalmers (Middletown, NJ/Middletown North) hit six free throws apiece down the stretch to ice the game for the Devils.
For the Devils, Emslie had 11 points and nine rebounds with senior center Brian Rimol (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) had 12 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Ryan McPherson (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) chipped in 10 points.
Farid led the Ducks, scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds while Gray finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Senior forward Michael Collins (Bronx, NY/Trinity Pawling) added 12 points.
The Devils return to action on Friday, November 24, when they take on Southwestern in the Trinity (TX) tournament beginning at 5 pm.