LORETTO, Pa. (Dec. 13, 2009) – The Saint Francis men's basketball team struggled out of the gate and never recovered in a non-conference 57-35 loss on Sunday at Drexel.
The Red Flash had their two-game win streak snapped and fell to 3-6 overall on the season. They will return to action at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night when Youngstown State visits DeGol Arena.
Saint Francis shot just 13.0 percent in the first half in falling behind, while the Dragons' Samme Givens had a career night with 24 points and 16 rebounds, which included a 9-of-11 effort from the field.
Senior Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) had a team-high 15 points to go with seven rebounds, while freshman Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) (Cleveland, Ohio / Lutheran East) added seven points and eight rebounds.
The Red Flash struggled mightily in the first half, especially on the offensive end. Givens scored the game's first nine points and the Dragons' first 10, and SFU missed its first five shots.
Saint Francis made just 3-of-23 field goal attempts (.130) in the first half, had no assists and 11 turnovers. The Red Flash went nine minutes, 12 seconds without a point during a 13-0 run Drexel run, and were held without a field goal for 10:19. But the SFU defense played well and held Drexel scoreless over the final 2:51 of the first half to cut a 21-point deficit to 25-9 going into the break.
The Red Flash scored the first bucket of the second stanza, and got a stop on the defensive end. However, they couldn't covert as the Dragons responded with an 8-0 run to take a 22-point, 33-11, lead with 14:26 to play. SFU never got closer than 20 points the rest of the way.
After final exams this week, Saint Francis struggled to find its shot in the first half, but the team shot 37.9 percent (11-29) in the second half. The Dragons finished 22-of-55 (.400) from the field, and outrebounded the Red Flash 43-33. Givens was the only player in double-digit scoring for Drexel, which improved to 5-5 overall.
Sweetney scored his 1,200th career point in the game, and still sits 20th on the school's all-time scoring list.
