LORETTO, Pa. (Feb. 21, 2008) – The Saint Francis men's basketball team took New York City's best team to the brink for the second time this season, but came up just short again in a gut-wrenching 80-72 double overtime loss versus Wagner on Thursday night at DeGol Arena.

The Red Flash led throughout regulation with the exception of a pair of brief first half one-point deficits. The Seahawks took their first two-point lead of the game on James Ulrich's layup 17 seconds into the second overtime, and they never looked back in winning by eight points.

Junior Chris Berry (Seagoville, TX/Seagoville) (Seagoville, Texas / Seagoville) had 19 points, 3 rebounds and a career high 5 steals for Saint Francis, while redshirt junior Bassirou Dieng (Dakar, Senegal /Riverdale Baptist) (Dakar, Senegal / Riverdale Baptist) tallied 15 points and 4 rebounds to go with a season-high 3 blocks. Dieng also played a career high 46 minutes, and Berry scored his 600th career point and pulled down his 300th career rebound in the game.

Ulrich helped pace Wagner with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Mark Porter added 20 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. SFU held Durell Vinson to 9 points, but the NEC's top rebounder grabbed 17 boards.

Despite the loss, the Red Flash remained in sole possession of eighth-place in the NEC's eight-team playoff race. They will now face Mount St. Mary's in their home finale at 7 p.m. on Saturday at DeGol Arena.

Saint Francis took a 36-30 lead into the break big first half efforts from Dieng and junior Grant Surprenant (Palatine, IL /Palatine) (Palatine, Ill. / Palatine). Both had nine points in the first stanza. Surprenant, who is the NEC's leader in 3-point field goal percentage, hit all three of his 3-point attempts in the first half.

Redshirt junior Cale Nelson (Newville, PA /Big Spring) (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) made a layup, and then fed Berry with a beautiful no-look pass to complete a 3-point play as the Red Flash opened the second half on a 5-0 run to take their biggest lead at 41-30. Jamal Smith answered with a jumper, followed by another layup by Berry to make it 43-32 with 14:54 remaining. Wagner responded with a 6-0 run in which Saint Francis turned the ball over on both its possessions. The Seahawks had three of their 24 offensive rebounds during the span to pull within 43-38 with 13:19 to play.

Redshirt sophomore Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) gave SFU a seven point edge at 45-38 with a pair of free throws with 12:02 to go. Wagner went on another 6-0 to pull within 45-44 with 10:33 remaining. The two teams traded buckets and free throws over the next seven minutes with the Seahawks pulling within one point on five occasions, but the Red Flash built their lead back to five points at 62-57 with 3:21 to play. However, SFU would not score another field goal the rest of regulation and Porter's layup with 42 seconds to go tied it at 63-63 to force overtime. The Red Flash had the ball with under 20 seconds to go, but turned it over. Junior Marquis Ford (St. Petersburg, FL /St. Petersburg) (St. Petersburg, Fla. / St. Petersburg) blocked a Porter field goal attempt in the final seconds of regulation.

Saint Francis appeared to be in control of the first overtime as well, but let it slip away in the final three minutes. Ford made a pair of free throws and Nelson made a floater to give the Red Flash a 67-63 lead with 3:14 to go. But that lead evaporated over the next 1:19 as they turned the ball over twice. Smith made two free throws and a bucket to even the score back up with 1:55 remaining. Junior Steve Profeta (Carnegie, PA /Chartiers Valley ) (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) made two free throws to make it 69-67 with 1:08 on the clock. But Smith scored on another layup to tie the game with 55 seconds left. Saint Francis had the ball with 9.1 seconds to play, and the length of the court to go. Nelson brought it up and drove to the basket, but Vinson blocked his shot attempt to force a second overtime.

Wagner took control in the second overtime as it scored on its first three field goal attempts. On the other end, the Red Flash missed their first two shot attempts and couldn't pull down a rebound. Junior Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, PA /Greater Johnstown ) (Johnstown, Pa. / Johnstown) made a layup with 1:28 to go to pull Saint Francis within 75-72. The Red Flash forced a turnover at the other end, but couldn't convert and Ulrich put the game out of reach with a layup with 39 seconds to go to make it 77-72 Wagner.

The game marked the second multiple overtime game of the season for Saint Francis. The Red Flash defeated St. Francis-NY, 92-84, in three overtimes on Jan. 24. It was the fourth multiple overtime game in school history. Ironically, the other two multiple overtime games both came during the 1983-84 season.

Profeta had 6 points, a season-high 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal for Saint Francis, while Hoffman added 6 points and 5 rebounds.