LORETTO, Pa. (Nov. 10, 2007) – The Saint Francis men's basketball team dug itself into an early hole and fell short in a furious comeback as American University handed the Red Flash a 75-68 loss in both teams' season openers on Saturday night at DeGol Arena in the Maurice Stokes Athletics Center.

Despite trailing by as many as 22 points with 1 minute, 42 seconds remaining in the first half, Saint Francis chipped away and pulled to within four points at 63-59 with 2:43 left in the contest. The Red Flash forced a turnover on the Eagles' next possession, but missed a 3-pointer that would have made it a one point game. Constantin Motnii got an offensive rebound and put-back at the other end to make it 65-59 with 1:05 left. Saint Francis was forced to foul, and American capitalized on its one-and-one opportunities.

The Eagles hit 17-of-18 free throw attempts in the game, including all eight attempts in the final 44 seconds to ice the win.

Redshirt junior Bassirou Dieng (Dakar, Senegal /Riverdale Baptist) (Dakar, Senegal / Riverdale Baptist) had a career high 16 points to help pace Saint Francis. Junior Chris Berry (Seagoville, TX/Seagoville) (Seagoville, Texas / Seagoville) had a team-high 18 points on 7-of-7 shooting, to go with a game-high 6 rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) had 14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal.

American's guards, Derrick Mercer and Garrison Carr, had 22 and 21 points, respectively.

“The first half we came out and did not have the defensive focus that we needed,” said Saint Francis head coach Bobby Jones. “We allowed them to make some shots early on to give them confidence. Number five (Garrison Carr) did an excellent job in the first half and hit a couple early threes to get his confidence up. We got ourselves in trouble in the first five minutes. It was a valiant effort in the second half, but it wasn't enough. We dug a hole for ourselves and had to fight to get back in it.”

American couldn't have asked for a better start to the game. The Eagles hit eight of their first 10 shots from the field and Saint Francis made just 3-of-11 during the same span. American jumped out to a 22-6 lead less than eight minutes into the game. The Red Flash outscored the Eagles 62-52 the rest of the way, but ran out of time in the comeback attempt.

Saint Francis trailed by 19 points, 42-23, at halftime. Carr (17) and Mercer (10) combined for 27 of American's 42 first half points. Carr was 4-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from the foul line, while Mercer made 6-of-8 field goals, including 5-of-7 from long distance.

Jones inserted defensive specialist Kyle Jackson (Bolingbrook, IL /Plainfield Central ) (Bolingbrook, Ill Plainfield Center) for 19 minutes in the second half, and the junior guard held Carr to just 4 points over the final 20 minutes. Jackson played a career high 27 minutes in the game, and scored a career high 7 points on 3-of-4 shooting.

The Eagles held a 17 point lead with 12:59 remaining after Bryce Simon made a layup. Sweetney converted a traditional 3-point play followed by three free throws by junior Cale Nelson (Newville, PA /Big Spring) (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) and then a jumper by Jackson as Saint Francis went on an 8-0 run to pull within nine points, 57-48, with 10:02 remaining.

After trading points over the next six-plus minutes, the Red Flash went on another 5-0 run on a pair of Sweetney free throws and a 3-pointer by junior Steve Profeta (Carnegie, PA /Chartiers Valley ) (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) that ignited the Saint Francis faithful and made it a 63-59 game with 2:43 to play.

But the Red Flash missed on its next opportunity down the floor, and Motnii gave the Eagles the big rebound and layup to make it 65-59 with 1:05 to go. Mercer made all six of his free throw attempts in the final 44 seconds, while Motnii made both of his attempts to put the game out of reach.

“Saint Francis played a lot better in the second half,” said American head coach Jeff Jones. “We stunned them a little bit in the first half. We shoot well and we played aggressively. The second half we wanted to do the same thing, but Bobby Jones had his guys responding and they were aggressors in the second half. Mercer did a good job shutting down Nelson. They are a difficult team to defend. They create match-up problems. They are skilled in so many spots, and they stretch you out defensively.”