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Who, What When, Where and Why
In its 98th season of collegiate basketball, Saint Francis will open Northeast Conference play on the road when it travels to league rival St. Francis-NY on Thursday night. It is the third game in the midst of a six-game road swing for the Red Flash. SFU will then head to Long Island on Saturday.
History Lesson
The Saint Francis radio team of Bernie Jubeck and Joe Vesnesky love their history, so we dedicate this note to the voices of the Red Flash. The St. Francis College's men's basketball program, founded in 1896, is the oldest collegiate program in New York City. The Terriers have an overall record of 1096-1133, .491 W-L%, over a 90 year span from the 1920-1921 to the 2010-11 season. The Terriers best finish was the 1953-1954 season, with a 23-5 record. Throughout their history the Terriers have played as NCAA Division I independents, in the Metropolitan New York Conference (1946–1963), in the Metropolitan Collegiate Conference (1966–1968) and since 1981 in the NEC. In that time span, the Terriers were regular season conference champions 4 times and have had 17 different head coaches, the latest of which is Glenn Braica. Braica was an assistant under Norm Roberts at St. John's University. In 2007 Irma Garcia, '88, became the athletic director of the Terriers replacing long time director Edward Aquilone, '60. As of 2010, she is the country's only female Latina athletic director in Division I sports
Series vs. St. Francis-NY
The Red Flash will play St. Francis-NY for the 67th time on Thursday night, and will take a 37-29 all-time series record into the contest. Saint Francis-PA snapped a two-game losing skid in the series on Jan. 28, 2010, but have won six of the last eight meetings.
Sizing Up St. Francis-NY
The Terriers enter Thursday night's contest with a 1-3 record, but have been idle since last Wednesday, Nov. 24, when they dropped a 67-63 contest at Brown. St. Francis-NY has lost all three of its road games, but won its only home game, against Howard, on Nov. 21. Ricky Cadell has paced the Terriers in scoring in three of the four games, including a season-high 28 at South Florida. He is averaging 18.5 ppg, while Akeem Bennett is putting up 14.3 ppg along with 6.5 rpg. Cadell is shooting 58.1 percent from the field, and a blistering 57.9 perent from outside the arc.
Inside The Box Score
Saint Francis had a season-high 64 field goal attempts, and a season-low 13 three-pont field goal attempts, in a disappointing loss on Saturday at Youngstown State. Here is a closer look and some notes from the box score:
- Saint Francis made only four fewer field goals (30-26), but trailed significantly in 3-PT FG made (10-2), 3-PT FG attempted (20-13), free throws made (21-9) and free throws attempted (28-11).
- The Red Flash made 9-of-11 free throw attempts (.818) , and are 18-of-21 (.857) over the past two games.
- SFU had a season-high eight steals against the Penguins, by six different players.
- Freshmen Daniel Witczak (Georgetown, Ontario, Canada/Christ the King) and Robert Wortman (St. Mary's, PA/Elk Country Catholic) saw their first career action at Youngstown State.
- Senior Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Crotia/Life Center Acadamy) had 18 points and 3 rebounds, and is now second on the team with an 11.8 ppg average.
- Junior Jon Taylor (Bowie, Md./Montgomery College-Germantown) had a season-high 6 points and 3 rebounds.
- Sophomore Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) registered a block for the fifth straight game. He now has a team-high 9 blocks, and finished with 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block.
- Freshman Kameron Ritter had a season-high 5 points.
Season Openers
With its season -opening loss at American, Saint Francis fell to 1-2 in season openers under third-year head coach Don Friday. Both losses have come on the road (Texas Tech and American), while the Red Flash earned a 65-61 season-opening victory over American last season at DeGol Arena.
Home Sweet Home
Saint Francis won its home opener for the second straight year with a 69-66 victory over Colgate on Nov. 15, and followed that win up with a 68-67 victory over in-state rival Bucknell. The Red Flash have a .706 winning percentage at DeGol Arena over their last 17 games (12-5 record) dating back to a 78-59 season-ending victory over Fairleigh Dickinson on Feb. 28, 2009. SFU has won four straight at home, and seven of its last eight. Saint Francis will play host to Drexel on Dec. 18th in the 494th men's game to be played at DeGol Arena. The Red Flash will play host to Bryant in the facility's 500th men's basketball game on Feb. 5, 2011.
Television Exposure
Saint Francis will appear on local and regional television networks at least five times during the 2010-11 season. The Red Flash made their 2010-11 television debut on Nov. 17 on RCN in the Lehigh Valley, against Lafayette. SFU also played on local television at Youngstown State. Saint Francis will next make an appearance on Fox Sports South, NESN, and The Sunshine Network when it heads to national power North Carolina on Jan. 2. SFU will then play Wagner on?Jan. 8 in a game that will be broadcast by MSG+, Fox College Sports and FSN-Pittsburgh. Finally, the Red Flash will play host to a television audience against Robert Morris on Feb. 12. That game will be televised by Fox College Sports and FSN-Pittsburgh.
