Felician Athletics - 12/2/06 MEN'S BASKETBALL - Felician Hands Philadelphia First Loss, 69-66

RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Felician College men’s basketball team defeated visiting and previously unbeaten Philadelphia University, 69-66, in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference action Saturday afternoon at Job Gymnasium.

Felician (2-4, 2-1) held on after nearly losing all of a 64-52 lead in the final three minutes. After Philadelphia received two Christian Burns (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton Township) free throws, the Golden Falcons committed turnovers on their next three possessions, with the Rams turning them into points each time to pull within 64-61 at the 1:51 mark.

Two Felician possessions later, another Ram steal turned into a lay-up by Frederick Russell (Joppa, MD/Calvert Hall), as his team pulled within 67-66. After a timeout, Russell stole the Golden Falcons’ in-bound pass, but Philadelphia lost the ball out of bounds. Felician’s Sydir Mitchell (Clifton, NJ/Paterson Catholic) made two free throws, and a desperation Russell three-point attempt at the buzzer missed hard off the backboard. Felician had trailed by 11 early in the second half, using a 10-0 run to take a 49-47 lead with 8:07 to play.

Mitchell (9-13 FG) led all scorers with 26 points. Michael Pierrot (Melville, NY/Half Hallow Hills East) had 14 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks for Felician and Njiel Robinson (Plainsboro, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro) scored a season-high 14 points. Burns led Philadelphia (4-1, 1-1) with 24 points and 11 rebounds.