LORETTO, Pa. (Dec. 3, 2009) – Senior Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) had his first double-double of the season, and freshman Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) (Chesterfield, Va. / Fork Union Military Academy) had a career-high 16 points, to lead Saint Francis to an impressive 69-42 Northeast Conference-opening victory over visiting Wagner, on Thursday night at DeGol Arena.
The Red Flash closed the first half on a 12-0 run, and started the second half on a 27-5 run, to turn a four-point, 26-22, deficit into a commanding 61-31 lead with 8:13 remaining in the game.
The 27-point victory is the largest margin of victory in a Northeast Conference game since SFU defeated Central Connecticut State, 93-57, on Feb. 22, 2001, a span of 234 games. The 42 points surrendered are the fewest since a 41-40 loss against Monmouth on Feb. 3, 2000 (269 games).
The Red Flash snapped a five-game losing streak and improved to 2-5 overall by winning their third Northeast Conference opener in the past four years. Saint Francis will welcome Mount St. Mary's, which was picked to win the Northeast Conference this season, for a 7 p.m. tilt on Saturday night. Saint Francis will hold a locker room dedication at 3 p.m., before tipoff, and will also celebrate Alumni Night.
Sweetney played a season-low 28 minutes, but came away with his best overall performance of the young season. He recorded his 15th career double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and also pitched in with a season-high three steals and two assists. Ervin was 6-of-10 from the field, including 4-of-6 outside the 3-point arc, and had five rebounds, one assist and one steal to go with his 16 points.
“We are getting better,” said Saint Francis head coach Don Friday. “We are a lot better now than we were three weeks ago. Unfortunately, it wasn't translating into wins and losses. Now I think tonight is a good starting block for this young team to continue to grow upon. I'm very, very happy. And we look forward to a great challenge in a match-up with the No. 1 team in the Northeast Conference coming in here Saturday night in Mount St. Mary's.”
In the early going, SFU had its troubles with sophomore Chris Martin, who torched the Red Flash defense for 17 of the Seahawks' first 22 points, giving his team its largest lead of the night, 22-17, with 7:36 remaining in the first half.
But it was all Saint Francis after that as Sweetney had eight points, five rebounds and one steal to help the Red Flash finish the first half on a 17-4 run to take a 34-26 lead into the break.
Sweetney nearly had a double-double in the first half with 16 points and nine rebounds, as well as all three steals. Ervin was 3-of-5 with eight points in the first half, while Martin led Wagner with 17 of its 26 points. Martin was scoreless the rest of the night.
Sweetney got his double-double on Wagner's first shot attempt of the second half, and SFU rattled Wagner with tough defense and precision ball movement on offense. The Red Flash held the Seahawks to just five points over the first 12 minutes and 4 seconds of the second half, and led 61-31 at that point, which was SFU's largest lead of the night.
Freshman Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J. / Atlantic City) had seven points, a career-high four rebounds and two assists, junior Cedric Latimer (Los Angeles, CA /Windward) (Los Angeles, Calif. / Windward) finished with six points and two rebounds, freshman Tony Peters (Roselle, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) (Roselle, N.J. / Seton Hall Prep) added a career-high six points on 3-of-4 shooting , and freshman Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) (Cleveland, Ohio / Lutheran East) had three points, five rebounds and one steal for the Red Flash.
With his 20th point of the night, Sweetney passed Red Flash legend Calvin Fowler for 21st on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,180 career points. His 12 rebounds gave him 595, and his three steals gave him 96.
“I can't say enough about No. 1 (Sweetney) tonight,” Friday said. “We talk about when shots aren't falling, or we settle a little bit for jumpers. What he did was he went and got the ball… he was giving me a fist to come out of the game, and I was thinking 'You're not coming out.'”
Saint Francis held Wagner to 28.8 percent shooting from the field, and 17.4 percent from outside the arc. The Seahawks were 5-of-28 (17.9 percent) in the second half, and 1-of-14 (7.1 percent) from long range. The Red Flash had a season-high 12 steals on the night.
“Once our kids embrace the defensive end of the floor, now I think all of a sudden Saint Francis, we won't be the laughing stock of the league,” Friday said. “People will certainly give us the respect that we are trying to work hard to improve.”
The Red Flash held a 46 to 34 advantage in rebounds, and surpassed 40 rebounds in a game for the first time since Nov. 22, 2008. It was the first time SFU held any opponent under 50 points since 63-45 win over Wagner on Jan. 22, 2005. Saint Francis' win on Thursday night snapped a six-game losing streak against the Seahawks.
“That win signifies that if we come out and play hard and focus on defense that we can win a lot of games,” Sweetney said. “I felt that in the past this year with the Lehigh, Bucknell and Lafayette games, our defensive intensity was dropping off from how we started the game. Like coach Friday said, the guys have really been focusing on our defensive pressure. It's a great way to start the conference. We are 1-0, so we just have to build on that.”
