SALISBURY, Md. -- The Arcadia men's basketball team had four players score in double figures and shot 56.0 percent from the floor in am 85-79 loss at Salisbury on Saturday night at Maggs PAC.
 
Da'Kquan Davis and Phil Pierfy each scored 16 points and the Knights (0-1) shot 28 of 50 from the floor, but Salisbury (1-0) survived a second-half run from the Knights to pull out the season opener for both teams.
 
Trailing 41-40 early in the second period, the Knights used a 9-0 run to take a 49-41 lead on a Davis layup with 16:30 to play. Davis had ignited the run with a triple, Pierfy followed with a pair of free throws and Evan Slone added a layup as Arcadia pulled ahead.
 
The Seagulls battled back and tied the game at 55-55 on a Blair Davis layup to cap a 14-6 burst before Da'Kquan Davis answered with another trey following a kickout from Pierfy for a 58-55 lead with 11:27 to play.
 
The Seagulls wrestled the lead back at 62-59 as the clock ticked under nine minutes to play, and would never trail again. Chase Kumor gave Salisbury a six-point edge (67-61) with 7:06 on the clock, but AU scored the game's next five points to pull within 69-68 on a Pierfy layup with 5:16 showing.
 
Down two (75-73) with 2:31 to play, Arcadia saw the Seagulls complete a three-point play to go up 78-73 and two free throws by the Knights' Josh Scott were answered by a pair from Mike Ward with 1:28 left that kept the deficit at five. Johnny Firestein made four free throws in the final 16 seconds for Salisbury to seal the win.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
 
Pierfy finished with 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting, but he scored just four points and took just three shots in 19 minutes played in the second half … Davis was 5 of 9 from the floor (2-2 from 3-pt range) and added four rebounds and three assists … Scott scored seven points and pulled down a team-best seven rebounds … Steve Pendleton (15) and Evan Slone (10) also reached double figures in scoring for AU … The Knights held a 33-28 edge in rebounding, shot 17 of 23 from the line (.739) compared to 12 of 22 (.545) for Salisbury, but the Seagulls hit on 13 of 30 (.433) three pointers and won the turnover battle 15-20 … The Seagulls also had three players off the bench score at least 10 points in Fierstein (12), Lucas Martin (11) and Marquis Roberson (10) as the SU bench outpaced the AU reserves 35-15.
 
UP NEXT:
 
The Knights play their home opener on Tuesday against Susquehanna beginning at 7 p.m.