RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Felician University men's basketball team sliced a 17-point halftime deficit to two before ultimately dropping an 84-74 non-conference decision to visiting Franklin Pierce University on Sunday afternoon at Job Gymnasium. The game ended 2019-20 regular-season non-league play for Felician (4-7).

Golden Falcon sophomore forward Jay'von Jackson (Plainfield, N.J./St. Mary-Elizabeth) canned six three-point field goals and finished with a season-high 24 points and 10 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season. Classmate Dee-End McRae (Newark, N.J./Newark Central) (9-13 FG) scored a career-best 21 points.

Felician had trouble containing Franklin Pierce's Doyin Fadojutimi (Temple Hills, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt), the second-leading scorer in the Northeast 10 Conference. The Raven senior guard made 12 of 16 field-goal attempts, including 6 of 9 from distance, and recorded 31 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots.

Five consecutive points by senior Rachid Shimou (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) gave the hosts an 18-11 lead with 7 ½ minutes gone by in the contest. It turned out to be Felician's largest advantage of the day. FPU scored the game's next nine points, and after a McRae layup briefly tied the score, 20-20, the Ravens went ahead to stay with a three-point field goal by Antonio Chandler (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) with 10:29 to play until halftime.

The visitors systematically increased their spread. FPU assumed its largest edge, 46-29, in time for the halftime break. The Ravens outscored Felician, 35-11, over the final 12:22 of the half. FPU shot 51 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes and held the hosts to a 25-percent clip.

Three assists and a basket by Jeff Lewis (Sicklerville, N.J./Timber Creek) allowed Felician to start the second half with a 9-4 spurt. The resulting 50-38 score stayed put for more than three minutes. The Golden Falcons closed to 52-45 before, out of a timeout, consecutive threes by Fadojutimi restored a 13-point edge for FPU, which looked like it had withstood the barrage as 11:01 remained.

But the hosts had another run left. Jackson netted 12 points during a 16-5 Felician uprising that brought his team to within 63-61 at the 5:43 mark. But once again, the Ravens answered with the longball. Falu Seck (Washington, D.C./Springbrook) hit from behind the arc, and when he did so again with 3:44 to play, FPU was back up by nine and not again threatened.

Franklin Pierce was 16 of 31 on three-pointers. Seck finished with 16 points and Sean Fasoyiro (Houston, Texas/Mayfield [Ontario]) scored 12 points with seven rebounds.

Jackson and McRae combined to tally 34 of Felician's 45 second-half points.

Felician is idle until January 4, 2020, when it is slated for a 3 p.m. Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference road affair against the Jefferson Rams.