Ellis Cooper's Monster Effort Leads Men's Basketball to 89-69 Win over Assumption

Donte Gittens nets 16 points, including 11 in the second half

WORCESTER, Mass. (December 1, 2013) – Senior forward Ellis Cooper (Northampton, Mass.) had an outstanding game of 27 points, 15 rebounds, five steals and four assists to pace the Franklin Pierce University men’s basketball team to a come-from-behind 89-69 win at Assumption on Sunday. The Ravens won their third straight to improve to 8-1 and 3-1 in the Northeast-10, while the Greyhounds dipped to 1-6 and 0-3 in league play.

It was Cooper’s second-straight double-double and fifth overall this season. He has also ripped down 15 rebounds in each of the past two contests.

Cooper logged 17 points and nine rebounds in the second half as the Ravens had to mount a rally for the win. Cooper was joined by freshman guard Donte Gittens (Hartford, Conn.) and senior guard Andre Blackwood (Paterson, N.J.) to form the trio that sparked the Ravens in the final 20 minutes.

Gittens had 11 of his 16 points in the second stanza, while Blackwood dropped in seven of his 11 in that same time frame.

Cooper netted 11 points in the opening eight minutes of the frame, as the lead changed hands five times.

Assumption went back on top, 58-57, with 11:10 remaining in the game, but Gittens and Cooper went to work in the low post working their way to layups on three-consecutive possessions. Gittens got the first lay-in, while Cooper muscled his way for the other two. Blackwood bombed in a three-pointer minutes later, and Gittens’ three-point play on a layup and free throw with 5:17 remaining staked Franklin Pierce to a double-figure lead at 75-64.

The Ravens kept padding their lead from there to cruise in for the win. Blackwood drilled another three-ball, while Gittens converted four-straight free throws to make it 85-66.

Not to be left out of the second-half heroics, senior guard Curtis Christian (Harlem, N.Y.) tossed in eight points, while freshman Ben Mead (Ipswich, Suffolk, England) pumped in a pair of three’s in the opening minutes to work with Cooper in keeping the Ravens in the game before they went on their closing 32-11 run.

Franklin Pierce shot 65 percent from the field in the second half (20-of-31), including an eye-popping 7-of-11 from three-point range. The Ravens for the game shot 46 percent.

The Ravens were out-rebounded by a slim 42-37 margin, but more than made up for that by forcing the Greyhounds into 24 turnovers.

Cooper wasn’t the lone Raven to have an all-around outstanding game, as Gittens did as well with seven assists, four blocks, three steals and two rebounds. Junior forward Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) did not factor much into the offensive attack with only five points, but came up big in other areas with nine rebounds, four steals, two assists and a block.

Jimmy Zenevitch paced the Greyhounds with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Marcus Murray had 17 points.

Zenevitch’s layup moments into the game highlighted an opening 7-0 run by the Greyhounds, but the Ravens settled things down as Cooper aided a response with five-straight points, while Gittens rained in a triple to add to it as they took a 24-16 lead with 7:20 left until halftime.

Assumption once again found its footing and rallied by scoring 16 of the period’s final 22 points to take a slim 32-30 lead at halftime.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Wednesday night when the Ravens travel to Manchester to take on Southern New Hampshire at 7:30 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men’s basketball, please visit the team’s page at http://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 Franklin Pierce men’s basketball apparel can do so on the athletic department’s online store at http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)