RINDGE, N.H. (11/30/22) – From beginning to end, it was a battle between Franklin Pierce men's basketball and NE10 opponent Le Moyne College, as both teams kept things close until the waning seconds of the game, with the Ravens narrowly escaping on free throws by a 68-63 final at The Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.

The win improves men's basketball's record to 4-2 (2-1 NE10) overall on the season, as Le Moyne dips to 3-5 (2-1 NE10) with the loss.

Franklin Pierce opened the scoring with a pair of two-pointers on their first two possessions by sophomore guard Mohamad Traore (Hyde Park, Mass.) and junior forward Sean Bresnan (Yonkers, N.Y.). Le Moyne countered with back-to-back three-pointers to build an 8-4 lead, but immediately saw that nullified on a Pierce rebuttal that featured three consecutive three-point baskets between Traore and Bresnan, putting them back ahead by a 13-8 score. In his Raven debut, graduate Shandon Brown (Boston, Mass.) would add in four points over the next four minutes for Pierce, but the Dolphins would remain in the running up until halftime. In the final five minutes of the half, each team matched each other on the scoreboard 6-6, with Pierce leading by a fragile 30-26 score heading into the bottom half of the game.

Sophomore Sean Trumper (Ashford, United Kingdom) found six of the Ravens first eight points to open the second half, including going 4-of-4 in early free throws. From there, Franklin Pierce would put up an additional eight unanswered points to pull ahead 46-38, eventually heading into the final ten minutes leading 49-42. However, the difference maker didn't arrive until late in the action as both Mohamad Traore and senior guard Brandon Kolek (Cumberland, R.I) alternated three-point jumpers, bringing the two teams to a 63-63 tie with 1:47 to play. After securing possession on a defensive rebound, the Ravens drew a foul on Le Moyne that sent Sean Trumper to the line for a one-and-one, where he cashed in on one of the shots to put Pierce up by one point. With frustrations mounting, the Ravens would secure another four points from the line, courtesy of Kolek and Bresnan, to emerge victorious by the 68-63 final score.

The Ravens put three in double figures as sophomore Mohamad Traore tallied 20 points, along with Sean Bresnan and Sean Trumper who each added 11 points. Bresnan also contributed 11 total rebounds to claim the double-double on the evening, drilling 4-of-5 from the floor. As a team, the Ravens secured 10 total points off the bench, and shot 25-of-49 (51.0%) while going 13-of-24 (54.2%) from beyond the arc.

Men's basketball hits the road for their next matchup coming this Saturday, December 3^rd when they will travel to New Haven for a NE10 showdown, with tipoff at 3:30 p.m.