LORETTO, Pa. – Five players scored in double digits to help send five Saint Francis seniors out on a winning note in an emotional 78-59 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson in Northeast Conference men's basketball action on Saturday night at DeGol Arena.
Marquis Ford (St. Petersburg, FL /St. Petersburg) (St. Petersburg, Fla. / St. Petersburg), Cale Nelson (Newville, PA /Big Spring) (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring), Steve Profeta (Carnegie, PA /Chartiers Valley ) (Chartiers Valley, Pa. / Carnegie) and Grant Surprenant (Palatine, IL /Palatine) (Palatine, Ill. / Palatine) all suited up for the final time in a Red Flash uniform, and Kyle Jackson (Bolingbrook, IL /Plainfield Central ) (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Plainfield Central) watched from the bench as the Red Flash scored a season-high 78 points in both teams' season finales.
Nelson ended his career with two straight double-doubles. He went out in style with 17 points, 10 assists, three rebounds and a career-tying four steals. He finished his career with 380 assists, fifth on the school's all-time list in 96 years of collegiate competition.
Profeta had a season-high 12 points to go with three rebounds, one block and one steal. Ford added 11 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Surprenant had nine points and tied a career high with six rebounds for the second straight game.
Junior Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) had 12 points and six rebounds to go with a career-tying five assists, and junior Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Crotia/Life Center Acadamy) (Zagreb, Croatia / Life Center Academy) drilled all six of his field goal attempts for 12 points and four rebounds in 13 minutes.
First-year head coach Don Friday substituted for the four seniors in uniform with under two minutes remaining and the 1,772 fans in attendance bid farewell to them with a standing ovation.
Saint Francis got off to a rough start as the Knights jumped out to a 10-6 lead after Kamil Svrdlik made a layup with 15:38 to go in the first half.
But the Red Flash caught fire with a 12-0 run over the next 4 minutes, 12 seconds to take an 18-12 lead with 11:26 remaining. Saint Francis built a lead as large as 15 on a Nelson 3-pointer, 43-28, with 1:10 to go in the half. Svrdlik hit a couple free throws with 42 seconds left, but SFU took its largest halftime lead of the season, 43-30, into the break. The Red Flash shot a blistering 62.1 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes (18-of-29), and finished at 52.7 percent for the game.
Fairleigh Dickinson chipped away to start the second half, and got the lead down to 11, 51-40, with 12:58 remaining in the game. However, junior Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, PA /Greater Johnstown ) (Johnstown, Pa. / Johnstown) made a layup and Nelson hit another 3-pointers to make it 56-40 with 11:28 left. SFU got the lead to 22 on a Profeta jumper to make it 74-52 with 3:24 remaining to make it an insurmountable lead.
Game Notes: Saint Francis' 19-point victory was the largest margin of victory since a 94-60 season-opening win over Lock Haven on Nov. 18, 2006. It was the largest margin of victory over a Division I opponent since 69-49 win over Central Connecticut State on Feb. 26, 2004, and it was the largest margin of victory to end a regular season since an 85-59 win over Monmouth on Feb. 28, 1987, spanning 22 years; Cale Nelson (Newville, PA /Big Spring) ended his career with 380 assists, fifth on the program's all-time list, and he finished tied for fourth with an 81.7 percent success rate at the free throw line. His 146 assists this season rank sixth for a single-season in program history; Saint Francis made a season-high 12 three-pointers, including a season-high five from Nelson; The Red Flash also had a season-high 11 steals; Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) passed former teammate Rahsaan Benton on the all-time Saint Francis scoring list. Sweetney is now 33rd with 1,056 career points; Grant Surprenant (Palatine, IL /Palatine) tied his career high with six rebounds in each of the final two games.
