NOTRE DAME, Ind. (Nov. 16, 2009) – A young Saint Francis men's basketball team gave the Big East's Notre Dame a battle for the better part of 40 minutes, but the Fighting Irish prevailed 95-72 before 7,512 fans on Monday night at the Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center.
On a night that SFU shot 48.1 percent (26-of-54) from the field, freshman Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J. / Atlantic City) led the way with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-6 from long range. Senior Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) had 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal, junior Cedric Latimer (Los Angeles, CA /Windward) (Los Angeles, Calif. / Windward) added 12 points, and freshman Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) (Chesterfield, Va. / Fork Union Military Academy) had 10 points.
The Red Flash shot 68.4 percent from long range, making 13-of-19 three-point attempts. Notre Dame shot 55.7 percent from the field (34-of-61).
Two-time All-American Luke Harangody paced Notre Dame with 27 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, while Ben Hansbrough and Tim Abromaitis had 18 and 17 points, respectively. Hansbrough is the younger brother of former North Carolina star Tyler Hansbrough.
“I thought that we did some things well, and there are some things that we need to improve upon,” said Saint Francis second-year head coach Don Friday. “We played hard and we battled, but there are no moral victories. We will get back to Loretto and be ready to play Lafayette on Thursday night.”
The Red Flash fell to 1-1 on the young season, while the Fighting Irish improved to 2-0. SFU will play host to the Leopards of Lafayette at 7 p.m. on Thursday night, at DeGol Arena.
Notre Dame scored the first bucket of the contest, but the Red Flash showed right away that they weren't going to back down. Junior Sorena Orandi (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden/Solebury Prep) (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden / Solebury Prep) went back down the other end and nailed a 3-pointer from the elbow. Hansbrough gave UND a 5-3 lead with the first of his four trifectas, but a Latimer dunk followed by a pair of free throws from senior Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, PA /Greater Johnstown ) (Johnstown, Pa. / Johnstown) gave Saint Francis a 7-5 lead. A 14-0 run by the Fighting Irish gave them a 19-7 edge, but the Red Flash kept fighting and trimmed it down to five points, 35-30 on a pair of free throws from Sweetney.
Notre Dame took a 45-38 lead into the break and Sweetney's layup to start the second half made it a five-point ballgame. Another Sweetney jumper made it 47-42 before UND went on a 7-0 run, and the lead would grow to 15 at 60-45 with 15:04 to play.
That's when Shannon hit a groove and scored 10 straight Saint Francis points during a 10-4 run to make it 64-55 with 12:49 remaining. The teams traded buckets over the next six minutes when Austin Fowler (Farmington Hills, MI /Birmingham Brother Rice ) (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Birmingham Brother Rice) hit a 3-pointer right in front of the Red Flash bench to make it an 11-point game, 76-65 Irish, with 6:22 on the clock. But that's the closest SFU would be the rest of the way as UND went on a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach, 85-65, with 3:31 remaining.
The Red Flash struggled down the stretch without two of their big men. Latimer and freshman Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) (Cleveland, Ohio / Lutheran East) both fouled out of the game. Latimer fouled out with 10:46 to play, while Felder left with 5:00 on the clock.
Orandi finished with eight points and one steal, and freshman Chris Johnson (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) (Newport News, Va. / Denbigh) had six assists and two steals.
Notre Dame controlled the boards with a 40-21 edge in rebounds.
