MADISON, NJ – The College at Florham Devils held off the Drew Rangers 66-56 in a Freedom Conference game. FDU improves to 7-8 overall and 2-3 in the Freedom Conference. Drew drops to 2-13 and 0-5 in the Freedom.
The Devils fell behind by as much as seven points with 11:46 left in the first half as Drew went on a 7-0 run capped by a David Cramer lay-up to lead 14-7. But the Devils turned things around with a 30-15 stretch, and led by eight with 1:34 left in the half. A three-pointer by Drew’s Bob Carella, cut the FDU lead to 37-32.
FDU built their second-half lead up to as much as nine points with 11:31 left in the game, after FDU junior forward Matt Cushing (Ocean, NJ) converted a traditional three-point play. But Drew managed to whittle the Devils’ lead down to one point over the next five minutesas they went on an 8-2 tear fueled by an FDU turnover and three straight FDU misses from behind the three-point line.
A pair of free throws by sophomore guard Cody Chalmers (Middletown, NJ) and a lay-up by Cushing put the Devils up by five with 5:02 to play.
Drew cut it to four points when Craig Clemente hit the second of two free throws. The Devils then pushed it back up to six when senior center Chris Hendershot (Vernon, NJ) pulled down an offensive rebound and scored on the put-back.
With 1:48 on the clock, Drew’s Leon Thomas made the first of two free-throws to cut the Devils’ lead to five again. Hendershot connected on a jumper to put the Devils up seven again with 1:43 left.
A turnover and a missed shot by each team ran the clock down to 46 seconds by the time sophomore guard Frank Emslie (Hazlet, NJ) was fouled. He made the first of two free throws to give the Devils an eight-point lead
Drew’s Chris Lopez was fouled on the floor with 26 seconds left, but missed the first shot of a one-and-one. After Hendershot grabbed the rebound, Cushing was fouled with 22 seconds left. He made both shots to give FDU a 10-point cushion and make the score 66-56.
Drew turned the ball over and FDU was able to run out the clock.
On the night, Hendershot had 23 points and 14 rebounds, both game-highs. Cushing added 12 markers and a game-best seven assists. Chalmers chipped in nine points and grabbed six boards.
For Drew, Craig Clemente scored a team-best 15 points. Carella added 14 points.
The Devils will be back in action on Saturday as they travel to Lycoming for a 3:00 pm Freedom Conference game.