Men's Basketball 12/2/2025 11:25:00 AM

Men's basketball outworked on the glass in loss to non-conference foe FDU-Florham

Box Score The Medgar Evers men's basketball team dropped a non-conference game on Monday evening, falling to the Devils of FDU-Florham by a score of 84-58. The contest took place at the Ferguson Recreation Center in Madison, NJ. With the defeat, the Cougars dipped to a mark of 0-7 on the 2025-2026 campaign, while FDU-Florham improved to 4-3.

Despite the loss for the Cougars, senior Michael Perez registered a game-high 22 points. He also collected five rebounds while swiping two steals. Boubacar Mbaye added 11 points and a game-best three steals, and Zachary Bussey and Rhommy Holder netted eight and seven points, respectively.

In the victory for the Devils of FDU-Florham, Noah Pagan (8-12 FG) scored a team-high 20 points. He also snatched seven boards and blocked two shots. Chris Smith (8-8 FG) contributed 19 points while collecting three rebounds and swatting two shots. Mac Creek netted 11 points while grabbing six rebounds and dishing a game-high six assists, and Frankie Denvir posted a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

FDU-Florham raced out to advantages of 9-0 and 16-4 in the opening 6:54 of the non-conference clash. Later in the half, Pagan scored on three of four possessions to push the hosts' edge to 14 points, 28-14, with 5:32 remaining until halftime. Shortly thereafter, with 4:09 left in the opening session, a pair of converted free throws by Nate Mbuyamba gave the Devils their largest lead of the half, an 18-point advantage, 32-14. FDU finished the session strong, eventually taking a commanding 37-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Medgar Evers inched to within 14 points (37-23) 45 seconds into the second half thanks to a drained trifecta from Holder, but a 17-6 spurt by FDU-Florham over a span of 6:30 gave the Devils a 25-point edge (54-29), which was their biggest lead of the game to that juncture.

Later in the session, a converted triple by Gino Romano put the hosts ahead 79-44. The Cougars did finish the game on a 14-5 run, but that spurt came far too late, as FDU-Florham went on to win the game convincingly, by 26 (84-58).

The Devils were locked in all evening shooting the basketball, with FDU-Florham converting on 50.8 percent of their attempts from the floor (32-63), while the Cougars connected on just 22 of 67 attempts (32.8 percent). FDU-Florham held a 52-18 advantage on the glass, while also dishing 22 assists to the Cougars' eight. The Devils held an 8-3 advantage in blocked shots, but the Cougars swiped 14 steals compared to just four for the hosts. Medgar Evers also won the turnover battle, committing just 10 miscues compared to 18 for FDU-Florham.

Medgar Evers will return to action on Friday evening, as the Cougars will open CUNYAC play against the York College Cardinals. The game will take place at the Cougars Cave in Brooklyn, NY, with start-time time set for 7:00pm.

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