PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Dec. 22, 2009) – In their final game before the Christmas break, the Saint Francis men's basketball team suffered an 86-56 loss versus in-state non-conference rival Duquesne, on Tuesday night at the Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh.
Freshman Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J. / Atlantic City) had a team-high 12 points, and junior Sorena Orandi (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden/Solebury Prep) (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden / Solebury Prep) added 11 points and tied a career high with six rebounds, for the Red Flash.
Damian Saunders had a game-high 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Dukes, who improved to 9-4 on the season. Eric Evans had 17 points, and Bill Clark added 16 for Duquesne.
Saint Francis has now dropped four straight games to drop to 3-9 on the season. SFU has 10 days off before playing its final non-conference game of the season, against Hartford, at 3 p.m. on Jan. 2, at DeGol Arena.The Red Flash will then take their 2-0 Northeast Conference record into league play, which resumes on Jan. 7, at St. Francis-NY.
A 13-0 Duquesne run turned a 5-5 tie into an 18-5 deficit for the Red Flash with 14:03 to go in the first half. The Dukes, who came into the game shooting 25.5 percent from long distance and 57.8 percent from the free throw line, shot 43.8 percent (7-of-16) and 72.7 percent (8-of-11), respectively, in the first half.
Trailing 31-15 with 7:20 to go in the half, Saint Francis went on a 9-3 run to pull within 34-24 with 3:34 to play. Orandi had a layup and Shannon hit back-to-back 3-pointers during the run. However, the Dukes answered with a 9-0 run to stop the momentum.
Duquesne took a 47-29 lead into the break on 51.6 percent shooting. Shannon led Saint Francis with 12 points, while Orandi added nine points, five rebounds and three assists in the stanza. Eric Evans had a team-high 13 points for the Dukes.
Duquesne came out of the break to make their first five shots from the field, including a 3-pointer, to open with an 11-4 run. The Dukes then made 10 of its first 11 shots to put the game out of reach.
Game Notes: Orandi tied a career high with 6 rebounds; Saint Francis senior Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) moved into 19th on Saint Francis' all-time scoring list. He passed Charlie Kates (1977-81), who had 1,213 points during his career; Sweetney had his streak of 30 consecutive double digit scoring efforts snapped after finishing with nine points, eight rebounds and two assists in a season-low 22 minutes; freshman Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) (Cleveland, Ohio / Lutheran East) finished with seven points and one rebound for SFU.
