RINDGE, N.H. (March 16, 2021) – The Franklin Pierce University men's basketball team used 24 assists on 35 made field goals along with six double-digit scorers including a game-high 21 markers from Maxwell Zegarowski (South Hamilton, Mass.) as the Ravens weathered some early adversity before rolling to a 93-77 victory against American International College Tuesday evening at The Fieldhouse. The win evens up the Ravens record at 1-1 while the Yellow Jackets fall to 2-7 on the year.

Zegarowski scored his 21 points on 6-of-12 (50%) shooting including a perfect 3-for-3 (100%) on his two-point attempts. He tied with teammate JB Mukeba (Lynn, Mass.) with a team-best three offensive caroms. Sean Bresnan (Yonkers, N.Y.) did not miss a single attempt going 7-of-7 and banging home his only triple for 15 points.

Sam van Oostrum (Sheffield, England) who was honored in a pregame Senior Night ceremony stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, a contest-best eight rebounds, and a game-high six dimes. Brandon Kolek (Cumberland, R.I.), Matt Hofrenning (Minneapolis, Minn.), and Mohamed Traore (Hyde Park, Mass.) tallied 13, 12, and 10 points respectively.

For the Yellow Jackets, Xion Golding paved the way with a team-high 19 points to go with eight rebounds- four offensive. Donovan Miller produced 17 points with six boards.

The Ravens held the lead for the majority of the contest (28:23-to-8:46), shot a higher percentage (46.1%-to-37.7%), and dominated the paint (44-to-32).

The Ravens came out of the gate on fire scoring the opening seven points of the game with Bresnan collecting a Hofrenning feed for an easy deuce under the hoop. AIC responded with 13 consecutive markers capped off by a Miller pull-up triple at the 15:01 mark. The Ravens hoped to stop the guests' momentum and temporarily and did on an Antonio Chandler (Piscataway, N.J.) second chance lay-in, however, the Yellow Jacket spurt grew to 27-9 via a Shyheim Hicks three to expand the Yellow Jacket lead to a high 11, 27-16.

The half of runs continued when Pierce matched AIC 13 straight with 13 of their own with Bresnan notching back-to-back deuces to regain the edge to FPU at 31-29 with 5:36 left before the break. FPU kept attacking outscoring their counterparts 19-to-12 over the final five and a half minutes using a strong hoop and harm from van Oostrum and a Zegarowski trifecta off a van Oostrum flashy pass to hold a nine-point 50-41 edge at the half.

Six in a row to start the stanza for AIC dropped their deficit to a one-possession, 50-47 game when Golding took a defensive rebound coast-to-coast three minutes into the new half. The Ravens rebuilt their multiple possession advantage when Bresnan picked off a Miller pass and found Chandler for the cutting layup to move in front 59-50. With 11:08 to go, Jordan Vidal made two freebies to bring the Ravens to lead to 65-61, but the Ravens went on to close the contest on an 18-4 binge to lead by 18 with under five minutes to go.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://www.fpuravens.com). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens ), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men's basketball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (https://shopfpuravens.com). You can also follow the men's basketball team on Twitter (https://twitter.com/FPURavensMBB) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fpuravensmbb/).