Florham Park, N.J. – A layup by sophomore Jarek Johnson (Burlington, N.J./Burlington Twp) off a pass from senior Lance Rhoden (Orange, N.J./Orange) with two seconds remaining capped a 16-point, second-half comeback as the College of Saint Elizabeth men's basketball team emerged with a 75-73 victory at crosstown rival FDU-Florham on Tuesday night in front of a raucous pro-CSE crowd.
 
Senior guard Cam Tucker (Columbus, N.J./Northern Burlington) led the Eagles (2-0) with 16 points, as nine different players scored five or more points. He was an efficient 5-of-6 from the field, 4-of-5 from the free throw line, and added three steals and three rebounds.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson (0-2) led for 36:37, but ran into foul trouble in the second half. Over the final 20 minutes Saint Elizabeth futhermore limited FDU to just 10-for-26 (38.5 percent) shooting from the floor, and 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) from three-point range.
 
With 13:18 remaining in the game, FDU led 56-40. Saint Elizabeth then went on an incredible 14-0 run with buckets from five different players to cut the FDU lead to 56-54 after a three-point basket by Tucker with 9:41 to go.
 
The Knights pushed the lead back to seven with 6:39 remaining, but Rhoden immediately connected on a triple to make it 66-62. Senior guard Jason Saldiveri (New Brunswick, N.J./South Brunswick) tied the game at 73-73 with 1:04 left, and then stole the ball on the following possession. After a CSE turnover and another defensive stop for the Eagles, Rhoden capitalized on a well-designed play with a perfect pass to Johnson for the game-winner.
 
The Eagles held the edge in points off turnovers (20-7), second chance points (16-10), and bench scoring (33-8).
 
Saldiveri filled the stat sheet with seven points, eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Junior Darnill Brown (Bordentown, N.J./Bordentown) scored 11 points of 5-of-9 shooting from the floor.
 
Up next, the Eagles travel to Saint Joseph's Long Island on Friday, Nov. 15 for a 7 p.m. non-conference game.