BRONX, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's basketball team dropped its first of three games at the Johnny Bach Classic, falling to the host Fordham Rams 68-55 on Friday night at historic Rose Hill Gymnasium.
 
The Knights (1-2) shot a higher overall percentage from the field than the Rams (2-1), 39.1 percent (18-of-46) to 36.5 (19-of-52) percent but struggled mightily from downtown, converting just 3-of-16 (18.8%) from behind the arc.
 
Fordham also excelled from the free throw line with a 22-of-26 (84.6%) performance.
 
In the loss, sophomore forward Mike Holloway tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double. Sophomore center Malik Miller and junior guard Stephan Jiggetts joined Holloway in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Miller tallied a career-high 10 rebounds in the loss for his first career-double-double.
 
Four Rams scored in double figures led by Chris Sengfelder's 18-point effort.

On his team's performance tonight head coach Greg Herenda said, 'We just need to put two good halves together. Our defense in the first half at Seton Hall and our second here tonight is our formula for success. We will eventually start to gel offensively but we just need to take better care of the basketball and we will be fine."
 
The Rams came out of the gates with full-court pressure, pushing the Knights backcourt to give up the ball. The Knights broke through the press but were unable to convert several chances from close range and started just 1-for-8 despite several layup opportunities.
 
With the Knights struggling to convert on the offensive end, the Rams were able to mount an early 12-2 lead. The home team featured a balanced attack as head coach Jeff Neubauer constantly shuttled substitutions in and out.
 
Trailing by 13 with just under five minutes to go in the half, the Knights fought back with a 9-1 run, which was kick-started by an Anderson three-pointer and cut the deficit to five, 31-26.
 
After the slow start, the Knights rebounded to increase their first-half shooting percentage to 40.9 percent however, a late push by the Rams rebuilt the cushion to double digits, 43-30, entering the halftime break.
 
Hawkins scored all of his 16 points in the first half and did most of his damage at the free throw line where he converted all 11 of his attempts. The Rams guard also drew a foul on a half-court heave in the waning seconds, which provided him three more points prior to intermission.
 
Holloway led the Knights in the first half with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting. The sophomore forward also nabbed a team-high four rebounds in the opening stanza.
 
Five minutes into the second half the Knights began their comeback led by Miller. Nine straight points cut it to single digits with 13 minutes to go after Jiggetts found Miller for a two-handed dunk. On the ensuing possession, Miller dropped in a putback off a Holloway miss and then finished a feed from Anderson to cut the deficit to 49-44.
 
DaRon Curry snuck into the lane and splashed a floater to bring the Knights to within four, 50-46, but Sengfelder nailed a three for the Rams to stop the run.
 
After Sengfelder's three-pointer, the Knights were unable to get any closer than four as the Rams caused several key turnovers and finalized the double-digit victory.

"I just really loved our second half toughness and grit." Herenda added, "We have an extremely quick turnaround to bounce back and potentially win a basketball game here tomorrow night."
 
The Knights are back in action tomorrow at day two of the Johnny Bach classic when they take on Lipscomb University at 5:30 p.m.