LEWISBURG, Pa. (Dec. 1, 2007) – With a difficult month of November behind them, the Saint Francis men's basketball team used a 21-2 second half run to open December with a wild 57-54 non-conference victory over Patriot League power Bucknell for its first win of the season on Saturday night before a crowd of 3,348 at the Sojka Pavilion.

The Red Flash held off a furious comeback bid by the Bison in the final two minutes to become the first opponent to win two games in the brief five-plus year existence of the Sojka Pavilion. SFU defeated Bucknell, 70-65, on Nov. 22, 2004, the only home loss of the season for the Bison in their run to the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament.

Saint Francis will try to carry the momentum of its win into its first Northeast Conference game of the season next Saturday at in-state rival Robert Morris.

“I am so proud of our guys, not only for pulling out this win, but for the way that they have responded to our difficult start,” said Saint Francis head coach Bobby Jones. “This win is a credit to our players and their character. They have continued to work hard and focus. This is a very difficult building to come into and win, and our guys played a great game.”

Redshirt junior Bassirou Dieng (Dakar, Senegal /Riverdale Baptist) (Dakar, Senegal / Riverdale Baptist) recorded his second straight double-double with 12 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) had a season-high 15 points and 6 rebounds, and redshirt junior Cale Nelson (Newville, PA /Big Spring) (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) had 14 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds before fouling out with 2:26 remaining.

Todd O'Brien had a team-high 14 points and 13 rebounds for Bucknell, while Justin Castleberry contributed 11 points and 3 steals off the bench.

The Red Flash had a 14-point, 56-42, lead after Sweetney hit a layup with 2:12 remaining in the game. But Bucknell put on its full-court pressure and wouldn't allow Saint Francis to inbound the ball in its end, forcing five straight turnovers. The Bison went on an amazing 14-0 run beginning with a John Griffin 3-pointer with 1:56 remaining. Castleberry had eight points on the run, including a pair of free throws with 1:04 left to pull the Bison within two points, 56-54, before its delirious fan base.

Junior Marquis Ford (St. Petersburg, FL /St. Petersburg) (St. Petersburg, Fla. / St. Petersburg) made the front end of a 1-and-1 with 32. 8 seconds left to give the Red Flash a 57-54 edge, but he missed the second attempt. However, sophomore Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, PA /Greater Johnstown ) (Johnstown, Pa. / Greater Johnstown) came down with a huge offensive rebound to keep the ball in Saint Francis' end as the Red Flash ran the clock down to 26.5 seconds before being fouled again.

Junior Chris Berry (Seagoville, TX/Seagoville) (Seagoville, Texas / Seagoville), who tied a career high with 11 rebounds, missed the front end of his 1-and-1, and Bucknell then fouled Ford with 10.5 seconds on the clock, but he missed the first shot in his 1-and-1 opportunity. Griffin got a good look at a 3-pointer with two seconds left, but his attempt bounced off the glass and Sweetney was there to pull down the rebound with 0.5 seconds remaining.

“I've got to give a lot of credit to Bucknell because they put a real scare into us in the final two minutes,” Jones added. “They forced us into some turnovers and they got some easy baskets. We missed some late free throws that put us in a tough situation. But we pulled it out, and hopefully this win will springboard us into our next few games.”

The Red Flash out-rebounded Bucknell 44-32 in the game. Dieng (12), Berry (11) and Hoffman (7) combined for 30 of Saint Francis' 44 rebounds. It marked the first time SFU recorded 40-or-more rebounds in nearly a year when the Red Flash held a 40-36 rebounding edge in a win over Liberty on Dec. 16, 2006, at DeGol Arena.

Saint Francis pulled out the victory despite making just 5-of-23 attempts from outside the 3-point arc, and 6-of-17 attempts from the charity stripe.

The Red Flash out-rebounded Bucknell 19-15 in the first half, and had 10 of their 19 offensive boards in the first 20 minutes, but shot just 1-of-9 from behind the arc and made just 3-9 of from the foul line as they took a 30-24 deficit into the break.

Dieng had a game-high 12 points and 7 rebounds in the first 20 minutes behind 5-of-8 shooting.

The Bison scored the first three points of the second half to open their biggest lead of the game at 33-24. However, Saint Francis turned up the defensive pressure and held Bucknell without a field goal for the next 10:52. Sweetney scored the first four points of the run and Nelson scored nine straight points, beginning with his second of four 3-pointers on the night to give the Red Flash their first lead at 34-33 with 14:12 remaining. Saint Francis, which never relinquished that lead, held a 40-33 advantage when O'Brien snapped Bucknell's scoring drought with a layup with 8:52 to go. The Red Flash answered that bucket with the game's next five points, all by Sweetney, to make it 45-35 with 7:59 remaining.

Saint Francis held the Bison to only four second-half field goals over the first 16:07 of the half. They made four field goals in less than a minute to pull within two points.

Game Notes: Dieng's double-double was his second straight, and third of his career; Saint Francis had a season-high 9 steals; The Red Flash had a season-high 19 offensive rebounds and 44 total rebounds; Bucknell dropped to 50-11 all-time at the Sojka Pavilion. SFU is the only opponent to win two games in the building; The Red Flash held Bucknell to 27.6 percent shooting (8-of-29) in the second half.