Ryen Vilmont adds 10 points for the Ravens

RINDGE, N.H. (January 15, 2013) – The No. 22 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University men’s basketball team mounted a furious second-half rally, but it came up just short in a 53-50 setback to New Haven on Tuesday night at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens fell to 10-4 overall and 7-3 in the Northeast-10, while the Chargers won for the eighth-straight game to improve to 9-5 and 6-4 in league play.

Senior guard Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.) poured in a game-high 17 points, but his potential tying three-pointer with only seconds remaining skipped off the back iron.

Despite the miss, Jean-Guillaume keyed a furious rally by the Ravens, who found themselves down by 16 at 51-35 with 5:15 remaining. He sparked the closing surge with five-straight points on a deep three-pointer from the top of the key and a driving layup along the baseline.

Jean-Guillaume rained home another NBA-range triple minutes later to pull the Ravens to within eight at 53-45 with 3:11 to go. Junior guard Andre Blackwood (Paterson, N.J.) laid in a basket in transition moments later and Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) brought the Ravens to within a possession with a pull-up three-pointer from the right wing with :40 left.

The Ravens had to spend the next several seconds racking up enough fouls to send New Haven to the line for the bonus, and when they did, Ashanti DePass left Franklin Pierce a little bit of life as he rimmed out the front end of a one-and-one.

Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) grabbed the rebound and sent it ahead to Jean-Guillaume, who pulled up from well beyond the arc, but his shot hit off the front of the rim before skipping off the back portion.

Justin Exum led a pair of Chargers in double-figures as he netted 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. DePass came off the bench to total 12 points, including knocking down four three-pointers. New Haven outrebounded the Ravens, 35-31, and shot a strong 48 percent (10-of-21) from three-point range.

That strong three-point shooting enabled the Chargers to open up an early double-figure lead. Exum and DePass each knocked down a trio of threes in the first 10 minutes of the game to stake New Haven to a 23-10 lead and the Chargers would eventually take a 30-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.

New Haven held a double-digit lead throughout most of the second half before the Ravens made it a game late and got to within a possession.

Vilmont added 10 points for the Ravens.

Franklin Pierce returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Garden City, N.Y. to face Adelphi at 3:30 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s basketball, please visit the team’s page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase men’s basketball apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)