Ant Lessane adds 9 points and 2 rebounds off the bench for the Ravens

RINDGE, N.H. (February 6, 2013) – The Franklin Pierce University men’s basketball team rained in a barrage of three-pointers in the second half to pull away for a satisfying 73-53 win over Stonehill on Wednesday night at The Fieldhouse in Rindge. The Ravens improved to 15-5 overall and 12-4 in the Northeast-10, while the Skyhawks dipped to 10-10 and 6-10 in league play.

Three Ravens scored in double-figures, including senior guard Eric Jean-Guillaume’s (Stamford, Conn.) game-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Jean-Guillaume’s hot shooting was part of Franklin Pierce’s 57 percent shooting clip (26-of-46) for the game, including an impressive 50 percent (10-of-20) from three-point range. The Ravens were a blistering 86 percent (6-of-7) from beyond the arc in the second half.

Junior guard Andre Blackwood (Paterson, N.J.) also had an outstanding game as he was 4-of-6 from the field, knocked down a trio of treys (all in the second half) and scored 15 points off the bench.

His three-point shooting, in particular a four-point play, snapped the Ravens out of their sluggish ways which spanned the opening 29 minutes of the game and saw them clinging to just a slim 44-42 lead.

Blackwood flipped the switch for the Ravens at the 10:44 mark when he flashed out to the left wing, took a skip pass from Jean-Guillaume, and calmly drilled a three while being fouled on the play. He hit the ensuing free throw and the Ravens were off and running as they mounted a 15-0 run.

Jean-Guillaume and junior guard Georgios Papapetrou (Athens, Greece) followed with consecutive triples and a couple of possessions later Blackwood dropped in another trey to make it 59-42 with 7:27 to go.

Papapetrou connected on another three moments later and the Ravens held a 64-44 advantage. Franklin Pierce pushed its lead out to as many as 22 in the closing minutes, including at 68-46 with 3:35 left as junior forward Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) worked his way into the paint for a layup. That basket was part of Cooper’s 10 points in the contest.

Franklin Pierce outscored the Skyhawks, 42-23, in the second half and held Stonehill to just a 36 percent shooting performance (20-of-56) for the game.

Franklin Pierce reserves outscored Stonehill’s by a 30-18 count, and in addition to Blackwood’s total, senior forward Ant Lessane (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had nine points.

The Ravens held the narrowest of leads at halftime as they were up 31-30. It was an impressive accomplishment in that Franklin Pierce had an awful start to the game and trailed 20-9 midway through the half following back-to-back threes from Stonehill’s Sam Markle and Adam Fazzini.

Franklin Pierce finally awoke and scored 11 of the game’s next 13 points, keyed by a pair of treys from sophomore forward Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) and another three-ball from junior forward Matt Barboza (East Providence, R.I.). The Ravens kept clawing away until taking the one-point lead at halftime when Lessane knocked down a jumper at the buzzer.

Jack Cole led Stonehill with 11 points, while Markle added 10.

The win gave Franklin Pierce the two-game regular season sweep of Stonehill, marking the second-straight season the Ravens turned that trick. The Ravens downed the Skyhawks, 85-73, back in Easton, Mass. on Nov. 20.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday when the Ravens travel to Colchester, Vt. to take on Saint Michael’s 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(.)