Worcester, Mass. (February 7) -- Despite three players in double figures on Saturday afternoon, the Assumption College men's basketball team came up just short in a 67-64 home loss to Franklin Pierce at Laska Gym in Northeast-10 action.

Assumption jumped out to an early 7-2 lead over the first 4:28, capped by a pair of free throws by junior Terrance Bobb-Jones (Wilmington, Del./Delcastle-Voc Tech) as he went on to finish the period with five points. Another Bobb-Jones free throw with 7:01 left in the half gave the hosts their biggest advantage of the period at 16-10 before an 11-2 FPU run put the Ravens up 21-18. A driving layup from Dustin Cole gave Pierce the 19-18 edge, followed by a jumper from Paul Becklens. Assumption regained the lead on a three by Declan Soukup (Melbourne, Australia/Hallam Senior College) with 3:14 left in the half and eventually took a 26-25 lead into halftime as the Hounds shot 43.5 percent from the field.

Junior Karl Ziegler (Annandale, Va./Annandale) led the Hounds with six points in the low-scoring half, while Cole paced the Ravens with a seven-point period.

Franklin Pierce soared to an 11-0 run to start the second half behind five points from senior Ryen Vilmont for the 36-26 lead with 17:07 left. The Hounds cut the edge to 38-33 on a layup from junior Julian Aiken (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) before a deep Vilmont three from the top of the key extended the lead back to 41-33.

The Ravens maintained a comfortable 57-45 lead with 5:23 left after a three from the corner by Mike McDevitt before Assumption mounted the near game-winning rally. The Hounds trailed by just five at 59-54 with under three minutes remaining and forced a Franklin Pierce shot clock violation with 2:41 remaining to regain possession.

After a Ziegler free throw made it a four-point game, Vilmont knocked down eight free throws over the next two minutes to continue to lead 67-61 with 14 seconds remaining. Aiken hit a three for the Hounds with just over seven seconds remaining to make it a one-possession game, followed by two missed free throws by McDevitt. After the second miss, the Hounds fed the ball ahead to sophomore Jack Sullivan (Stony Point, N.Y./Albertus Magnus), who's attempt to send the game into overtime was just off line at the buzzer.

Bobb-Jones led the Hounds with 20 points and four blocks, along with a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double by Sullivan as he earned his second start of the season. Ziegler finished with 12 points as well, in addition to 10 rebounds from senior Jimmy Zenevitch (Methuen, Mass./Central Catholic).

Vilmont led three Ravens in double figures with a 24-point, 11-rebound double-double, along with 11 points from Cole and 10 points by Lolami Lola-Charles.

With the loss, Assumption drops to 8-13 overall and 5-11 in Northeast-10 play, while Franklin Pierce improves to 13-9 overall and 8-7 in the league.

Assumption is back in action on Tuesday, February 10th as the Hounds travel to Stonehill College for a 7:30 p.m. start at Merkert Gym.

For the latest on Assumption College Athletics, follow the Hounds via social media on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. For more information, contact the Office of Athletic Communications at 508-767-7240.