Florham Park, N.J. - The College of Saint Elizabeth's men's basketball team (1-1, 0-0 NEAC) held on to defeat FDU-Florham for its first victory of the season, 86-82 on Friday evening.

Roland Romano notched his second straight double-double, finishing with 19 points, 17 rebounds, and two blocks.  Jason Saldiveri had a team high 23 points on 66.7% shooting from the floor while Tino Gonzalez added a career high 15 points.

Determined not to get in an early hole for the second straight games, the Eagles came out strong in the first five minutes, scoring 16 points to take an early 16-9 lead.  Romano and Gonzalez were scorching hot in the first ten minutes, combining for 20 of the Eagles first 28 points to open up its first double-digit lead at the 9:30 mark.

CSE continued to up the lead as freshman Ty'ier Grier buried a three-pointer to give CSE a 39-21 advantage with 6:49 remaining in the half.  FDU managed to cut CSE's lead to 11, however the Eagles scored the final four points of the half to take 48-34 lead into the break.

FDU started the second half strong, scoring 14 of the first 20 points to cut the Eagles lead to just 6 with 13 minutes to go in the game.  The Devils lowered the lead to just three with 7:30 minutes remaining before Grier nailed back-to-back three-pointers to give the Eagles a nine point lead.  

Despite the Eagles getting the lead back to 12, FDU continued to fight, going on a 10-3 run to get within four with 2:30 to go in regulation.  Both teams traded baskets for the minute before Saldiveri made a driving layup to give the Eagles an 84-40 lead.  CSE's defense held strong in the final minute, forcing a missed three-pointer with 30 seconds left.  In the final 20 seconds, Gonzalez made two clutch free throws to preserve the four point victory for the Eagles.

CSE returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to Centenary College for an 8 pm tip.