LORETTO, Pa. (Jan. 3, 2008) – The Saint Francis men's basketball team struggled to bounce back from a tough first half as Quinnipiac dealt the Red Flash a 74-61 defeat on Thursday night at DeGol Arena.

Junior Chris Berry (Seagoville, TX/Seagoville) (Seagoville, Texas / Seagoville) paced Saint Francis with 13 points, while redshirt junior Bassirou Dieng (Dakar, Senegal /Riverdale Baptist) (Dakar, Senegal / Riverdale Baptist) added 9 points and 9 rebounds in the loss.

Senior DeMario Anderson led all scorers with 19 points and pitched in 7 rebounds and 4 steals for the Bobcats, while freshman Evann Baker scored 16 of his 18 points off the bench in the first half. Justin Rutty contributed 10 points and 9 rebounds.

The Red Flash have now lost four straight games, but will try to bounce back with a 7 p.m. contest against Monmouth on Saturday night at DeGol Arena.

Quinnipiac (6-7, 2-0 NEC) scored the game's first five points and never trailed behind a strong first half rebounding performance. The Bobcats held a 27-15 rebounding advantage at halftime, including 11 offensive boards. They held a 19-4 edge in second chance points in the game, but 15 of those points came in the first 20 minutes.

After falling behind 5-0, Dieng made 1-of-2 free throws and sophomore Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, PA /Greater Johnstown ) (Johnstown, Pa. / Greater Johnstown) made a pair of layups to pull Saint Francis within 7-5 with 17:43 to go in the first half.

But Quinnipiac went on a 13-3 run to take charge with a 20-8 lead with 10:49 to go in the half. The Red Flash crawled to within seven points, 27-20, but the Bobcats closed the half on a 9-4 run to take a 36-24 lead into the break.

Anderson made a layup to give Quinnipiac a 46-33 lead with 15:34 to go in the game, but Saint Francis began to show some life. Profeta sunk a 3-pointer and Dieng made a pair of free throws to spark a 5-0 run that pulled the Red Flash within eight points. Junior Cale Nelson (Newville, PA /Big Spring) (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) made a layup with 12:15 remaining to make it a six-point game, 48-42. Berry answered a Bobcat bucket with a layup of his own to make it 50-44 with 10:34 to play. However, Anderson scored the game's next four points to make it a 10-point Quinnipiac lead, and Saint Francis never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

Sophomore Chris McFarland (Montgomery Village, MD /Riverdale Baptist) (Temple Hills, Md. / Riverdale Baptist) tied his career high with 5 points and added a career high 3 steals in 18 minutes off the bench. His 18 minutes were also a career high. Junior Steve Profeta (Carnegie, PA /Chartiers Valley ) (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) had 8 points and a steal, while Nelson and junior Marquis Ford (St. Petersburg, FL /St. Petersburg) (St. Petersburg, Fla. / St. Petersburg) had 7 points each.

Postgame Quotes:

Head coach Bobby Jones

“First of all, we've got to find a way to play better at home. That is certainly a glaring concern as we resume the conference part of our schedule. The first half I thought two things got us in trouble. (Quinnipiac) had 19 second chance points for the game. I venture to say most of those came in the first half off of their 11 offensive rebounds. We knew going into the game that they were a tremendous rebounding team. We certainly talked about that being one of the keys to the game. Whenever you play an athletic team with athletic four's and five's, you must block out first and then rebound the ball second. I thought we were going after balls and they were out-hustling and they were more physical. And they were more aggressive in getting those rebounds. That coupled with our turnovers. We had four or five turnovers in the first half where we just made poor decisions in transition where there was nothing between us and the basket. We just threw the ball either out of bounds or made poor decisions two on one. These are things that we work on everyday. So those two things in the first half hurt us. I thought we did a poor job in those two areas. I really thought we lost the game in the first half quite honestly. The first half is where we got ourselves in trouble. They are a good basketball team. I certainly don't want to discredit them for their effort, but our effort tonight was just not good, particularly at home.”

You held DeMario Anderson to two field goals in the first half. Was it frustrating going into halftime with a deficit despite holding him down?

“It's very frustrating because the last thing we talked about before tipoff in the locker room was we cannot allow a player off the bench to have a career night. Number 23, (Evann) Baker, comes in the game and he has 16 points in the first half off the bench. A lot of his points came off of offensive rebounds and drives where he was able to get to the free throw line. We just got to find a way to get our guys to understand. First of all, you've got to play harder and you've got to play with better effort at home. For some reason that has been a real challenge this year. I just don't understand why we are playing so poorly at home.”

Quinnipiac had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half. Is that simply a matter of desire and hustle?

“I don't know if it was as much hustle. Rebounding is an art. It's just a will to want to go after the basketball. Whenever you play against aggressive and physical people who are tough-minded, the first thing you have to do is you have to out-smart that player. When you play against an aggressive rebounder who is a better athlete than you, you've got to block him out. When the shot goes up, it's not a jumping contest because that person is going to win it every time. We've got to be fundamentally sound. We've got to turn and get a body up against that player and keep them off the glass. That's the mindset that we talked about coming into this game. We knew we were going against some tremendous athletes at the three, four and five. When the shot went up, either we got caught watching or we went to pursue the basketball and that's not the way that you rebound against good, strong, aggressive, tough-minded people. I think our intentions are good. We certainly want to get the rebound. But the toughest, strongest person is going to win those battles. That's why you have to block them out, and we didn't do a good job of that tonight.”

It seems you guys are falling behind and then make a comeback, but you dig yourselves too big of a hole.

“I know it's frustrating. I played the point guard position in college. I know that it's frustrating for Cale (Nelson) and Marquis (Ford) when they are turning the ball over like that. Once you turn the basketball over, that play is over with. Now you have to go back on the other end, and try to get it back on the defensive end. You can't get distracted. You can't lose your focus and you have to stay positive through those kinds of situations. I talk to my guards all the time. 'Watch (New England Patriots quarterback) Tom Brady. That's the guy you want to watch.' Up 10 points, down 10 points. Two minutes left, 20 minutes left. It doesn't matter. He never panics. He never wears his frustration on his expressions. When you are at the point and when you are the quarterback, you really have to have that mindset. It's a tough position to play, the absolute toughest position to play in college basketball.”

You guys had a good conference win on the road, and then come home to lose your home conference opener. This used to be play a tough place to play for opposing teams, but the team is struggling here.

“We have been very difficult to beat here until recently. Now we are struggling to win at home. Not just that, we are not playing as well at home. That is a concern. Certainly the coaching staff, starting with me, we are frustrated with that. I think sometimes you can want things too bad. I told my coaches before the game, 'Guys, we took two and a half days preparing for this game' because we had the time with school being out. We have three pretty good assistant coaches sitting over there in street clothes that were very good players. They can't dress. The only thing we can do is prepare our team, try to get them to understand to play with a sense of urgency, and enjoy the opportunities out there. Now it's got to come from the players. I know that losing is tough for everybody, but the players have to understand you've got to continue to put great effort and sooner than later you'll get your breaks. We'll come back with one day to prepare for Monmouth on Saturday. We've got to get the players to understand, 'You have to be ready to play at home.'”