LORETTO, Pa.  (Nov. 20, 2010) – Sophomores Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City) (Atlantic City, N.J. / Atlantic City) and Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) (Chesterfield, Va. / Fork Union Military Academy) provided late offensive and defensive heroics, respectively, and the Saint Francis men's basketball team held off a late Bucknell charge in a nail-biting 68-67 victory on Saturday night at DeGol Arena.

Shannon scored SFU's final four points, and Ervin came up with his career-high fourth steal as time expired to help the Red Flash improve to 2-2 on the young season. Saint Francis will be idle until it travels to Hartford for a Thanksgiving-even showdown at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

The Red Flash improved to 12-5 at DeGol Arena over their 17 home games, dating back to the 2008-09 season finale. SFU is now 2-0 at home this season.

Sophomore Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) (Cleveland, Ohio / Lutheran East) had a career-high 21 points to go with 9 rebounds and a career-tying 4 assists, while senior Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Crotia/Life Center Acadamy) (Zagreb, Croatia / Life Center Academy) had 10 points,8 rebounds and a career-tying 5 assists, and Ervin had 10 points along with career highs with 5 assists and 4 steals.

“This was a really good win for our program,” said Saint Francis head coach Don Friday. “Bucknell is a very good team. Our guys stuck to the game plan and made plays when they needed to be made. But we've got work to do, and we need to find a way to win some ballgames on the road. Home as been very good to us, but we have to win on the road to take our program where we want it to go.”

Saint Francis had a five-point lead when G.W. Boon hit a 3-pointer to pull Bucknell within 66-64 with 1:53 remaining. Friday called a timeout to get the ball to Shannon, who finished the game with 9 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, for a layup to make it 68-64 with 1:11 left. Mike Muscala made a layup and completed a 3-point play to cut SFU's lead to 68-67 with 55.8 seconds on the clock.

The Red Flash missed out on a scoring opportunity and Muscala came down with a big defensive rebound as Bucknell called timeout with 20 seconds remaining. The Bison tried to get the ball in the hands of Muscala, but Saint Francis' smothering defense kept them on the perimeter. Ervin stripped the ball from Boon as time expired to help Friday improve to 2-1 against his former team. (Friday was an assistant at Bucknell from 1994-2003).

Boon finished with 24 points for Bucknell, which dropped to 1-3 on the season. Muscala pitched in with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks. Bryson Johnson, who came in tied as the Bisons' leading scoring, was held scoreless.

Saint Francis shot a season-best 52.7 percent from the field on 29-of-55 shooting. The Red Flash also had a season-best 22-to-13 assist-to-turnover ratio. Sophomore Chris Johnson (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) (Newport News, Va. / Denbigh) had a season-high 9 points to go with 3 assists and 2 rebounds for SFU.

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