WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Garrison Carr scored 19 of his game-high 28 points in the second half to help defending Patriot League champion American defeat the Saint Francis men's basketball team, 67-46, on Monday night at Bender Arena.
Seniors Cale Nelson (Newville, PA /Big Spring) (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) and Steve Profeta (Carnegie, PA /Chartiers Valley ) (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) and junior Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, PA /Greater Johnstown ) (Johnstown, Pa. / Johnstown) paced the Red Flash with eight points each. Junior Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Crotia/Life Center Acadamy) (Zagreb, Croatia / Life Center Academy) had four points, two assists and a career high seven rebounds in the loss.
Saint Francis dropped to 0-2 on the season, and will look for its first win of the year when the Red Flash hold their home opener at 7 p.m. Thursday, against in-state rival Duquesne. The Eagles earned their first win of the year to improve to 1-1.
“We are struggling right now to try to find some guys who can score,” said first-year Saint Francis head coach Don Friday. “We had some pretty good looks early on. We are a work in progress. I'll tell you that I thought that the last seven minutes, we hung in there. Even though we aren't there yet, I thought we did some good things in those final seven minutes. That isn't going to fly for a long time because we need to start getting some wins. But I'll tell you what, I'm going to be positive with those kids, we'll be critical of some things we need to improve on. But we'll take tomorrow off, and we'll strap it back on Wednesday and get ready for Duquesne. We'll get better from here on out.”
SFU held American to just 1-of-10 shooting in the first half, and outrebounded the Eagles 17-11, but 11 turnovers were costly as AU jumped out to a 31-19 halftime lead.
The Eagles came out on a 16-5 run to open the second half, and never looked back.
Carr sparked that run with a pair of 3-pointers. He was 0-for-6 from beyond the arc at the half, but nailed 5-of-6 in the final 20 minutes.
Senior Marquis Ford (St. Petersburg, FL /St. Petersburg) (St. Petersburg, Fla. / St. Petersburg) added seven points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals, and junior Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) tallied five points and four rebounds.
