STATEN ISLAND, NY. – Battling a hostile and boisterous atmosphere of 1,921 in attendance at the Spiro Sports Center, the Saint Francis University Men's Basketball team suffered a tough 75-58 loss to the Wagner College Seahawks on Saturday afternoon.
Junior Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) led the Red Flash with his fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds on the afternoon, while senior Cale Nelson (Newville, PA /Big Spring) (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) contributed 12 points and seven assists in 38 minutes of action.
Wagner freshman guard Chris Martin led all scorers with 20 points, going 7 for 10 from the field and 6 for 8 from beyond the ark. Fifth-year senior point guard Justin Drummond had 10 points and 10 assists for Wagner.
Saint Francis (5-18, 2-10 NEC) will return to action with a 7 p.m. game against Quinnipiac on Thursday night at DeGol Arena.
The teams traded baskets throughout much of the first half, as Nelson had one of his best assists of the afternoon when he bulleted a pass to Sweetney, who was able to finish strong under the basket with a layup thru traffic.
Wagner finally broke the back and forth battle thanks to some stingy defense and dribble penetration as the Seahawks were able to take a 29-23 lead with 6:03 remaining in the first half.
Turnovers cost the Red Flash valuable time as they quickly found themselves trailing Wagner 36-23 when fifth-year senior guard Joey Mundweiler hit a three pointer for Wagner at the 3:11 mark of the first half.
Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, PA /Greater Johnstown )'s drive to the paint brought the Red Flash to the free throw line and gave them their first points in nearly 5 minutes when he hit both shots to make the score 36-25.
Senior Kyle Jackson (Bolingbrook, IL /Plainfield Central ) (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Plainfield Central) nailed a wide open three pointer with 40 seconds remaining in the half to bring the score to 42-30 in favor of Wagner, who for the first half shot 6 for 10 (60%) from the three point line and 61.5% from the field (16 for 26). Jackson's basket ended a 6:07 drought from the field for the Red Flash.
The Red Flash shot 10 for 24 from the field during the first half (41.7%), going 3 for 8 (37.5%) from the three point line. Nelson led the Flash in scoring and assists with eight points and four assists in the first half.
Opening the second half, Saint Francis went on a 6-1 run in the first three minutes to cut the score to 43-36 with 16:53 remaining in the game.
Sweetney grabbed a rebound off a shot by senior Steve Profeta (Carnegie, PA /Chartiers Valley ) (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) and got the put-back to bring the Red Flash deficit to single digits, 47-38.
After a steal on the inbounds pass by Nelson, the Red Flash were able to again control the offensive glass when junior Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Crotia/Life Center Acadamy) (Zagreb, Croatia / Life Center Academy) grabbed the rebound and finished the play with an easy lay-up, making the score 49-42 with 12:17 remaining.
Wagner was then able to capitalize on the offensive boards as they put together back to back possessions of strong play inside, and extended their lead back to nine points, 53-44, with 9:58 remaining in the game.
But Saint Francis wouldn't get any closer in dropping the contest 75-58.
