LORETTO, Pa. (Nov. 19, 2009) – Senior Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) recorded his second career 30-point game and the Saint Francis men's basketball team shot 59.6 percent from the field, but Lafayette's experience prevailed in an 88-77 victory over the Red Flash on Thursday night at DeGol Arena.
Sweetney was 10-of-14 from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line to finish with 30 points, six rebounds, two steals and one block. He moved into 27th on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,123 career points. Junior Cedric Latimer (Los Angeles, CA /Windward) (Los Angeles, Calif. / Windward) had a career-high 23 points, and was 9-of-11 from the floor, with three rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Lafayette made 31-of-47 field goal attempts in scoring on 66.0 percent of its opportunities. The Leopards also hit on 8-of-16 three-pointers, and made 18-of-21 (85.7 percent) free throw attempts. Jared Mintz was 9-for-9 from the floor with 24 points and six rebounds, Jim Mower and Michael Gruner had 17 points each, and Jeff Kari pitched in with 13 points.
The Red Flash dropped to 1-2 on the season, and will return to action with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff on Saturday night, at Bucknell. The Leopards improved to 2-1 on the season.
Saint Francis appeared on its way to continuing its progress that it showed over the first two games of the season. Four different players scored in the first four-plus minutes to stake the Red Flash to an early 13-5 lead. But Lafayette scored 11 straight points to gain the lead, 16-13, with 12:42 to go in the first half. SFU responded with a 6-0 run on three straight buckets by Latimer, including a thunderous dunk that gave the Red Flash a 19-16 lead with 11:51 to play.
However, the Leopards against scored seven straight points to take a 23-19, and they never surrendered the lead. They built the lead to seven, at 32-25 with 4:49 remaining in the first stanza. Saint Francis chipped away and pulled within one point, 34-33, with 2:16 to play, but Lafayette closed the half on an 8-0 run, including a banked 3-pointer at the buzzer by Gruner.
After a taking a 42-33 lead into halftime, the Leopards came out of the break with a layup by Ryan Willen to build the lead to 11.
The Red Flash made a pair of key runs in the second half only to see Lafayette respond with runs of its own each time. Latimer capped a 9-0 SFU run with a jumper to make it 55-50 with 10:58 to play, but the Leopards came back with a 7-0 run.
Saint Francis had another 7-0 run to pull within 70-65 with 5:27 remaining, but Lafayette responded with four straight points over the next 1:35 to make it 74-65 with 3:52 left.
The Red Flash got a combined 53 points from Latimer and Sweetney. Freshman Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J. / Atlantic City) had nine points and a season-high four assists, and junior Sorena Orandi (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden/Solebury Prep) (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden / Solebury Prep) had six points, two rebounds and one steal.
