EASTON, Pa. (Nov. 17, 2010) – Lafayette hit nine 3-pointers to jump ahead and a valiant Saint Francis comeback attempt fell short in a 72-68 Red Flash men's basketball loss on Wednesday night at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton.

Sophomore Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City) (Atlantic City, N.J. / Atlantic City) scored a career-high for the second straight game, this time with 24 points, sophomore Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) (Chesterfield, Va. / Fork Union Military Academy) had 14 points, and sophomore Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) (Cleveland, Ohio / Lutheran East) had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Saint Francis fell to 1-2 on the season, and will try to get back on the winning track when it plays host to Bucknell in a 7 p.m. Saturday contest, at DeGol Arena. The Leopards, who were picked to finish third in the Patriot League, improved to 1-2.

Ryan Willen had a game-high 26 points for the Leopards, while Jared Mintz had 14 points and 8 rebounds.

“We made a lot of mistakes to fall behind in this ballgame tonight,” said Saint Francis head coach Don Friday. “But I give our guys credit for fighting their tails off to give us a chance to win at the end. We will regroup and we will work hard to get better. We have another tough game against Bucknell on Saturday, and we need to find a way to win it.”

The Red Flash fell behind by as much as 18 in the first half, but close to seven before the break. They got the deficit to four, 45-41, with 14:12 remaining in the game, only to see Lafayette build it back to 18, 65-47, with 7:24 remaining.

SFU began to chip away and scored six straight points that sparked a 17-3 run to pull within striking distance. A layup by freshman Scott Eatherton (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) (Hershey, Pa. / Hershey, a layup by Ervin and a free throw by Felder got the Red Flash within four, 68-64, with 1:15 remaining. The Leopards got a key offensive rebound with 44 seconds left, and Jared Mintz made a pair of free throws to put the game out of reach.

Lafayette came out on fire in the first half, jumping out to an 18-point lead, 31-13, after a Willen layup. However, the Red Flash started to chip away, and used a 13-2 run in with Shannon scored nine points to pull within 33-26 with 1:45 remaining. The Leopards closed out the half by scoring six of the last nine points to take a 39-29 lead into the break.

Willen had a game-high 15 points at the break, while Shannon had 14 for the Red Flash. Lafayette shot 53.6 percent (15-of-28) from the field, and SFU shot 38.5 percent (10-of-26).

Eatherton had 5 points and 5 rebounds in the game for the Red Flash. Sophomore point guard Chris Johnson (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) (Newport News, Va. / Denbigh) had 4 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

Lafayette shot 46.8 percent (22-of-47) for the game, and SFU shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55). Saint Francis held a 31-29 rebounding edge.

For periodic men's basketball updates on Twitter, follow Director of Athletic Communications Bob Volkert at SFUVolkert.