LORETTO, Pa. (Feb. 20, 2010) – Senior Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) put forth an inspired effort on Senior Day to lead the Saint Francis men's basketball team to its fourth straight win, 73-68, versus Sacred Heart on Saturday afternoon at DeGol Arena. The win, along with the day's other Northeast Conference results, clinched a Northeast Conference playoff spot for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
A first-round Northeast Conference playoff opponent will be determined in the season's final two regular season games to be played next Thursday and Saturday.
Sweetney recorded his fourth double-double of the season, and 18th of his career, with 31 points and 13 rebounds to go with 2 assists. The fifth-year senior had career highs with 14 free throws and 16 free throw attempts, and moved past Greg Jacobs and Harkeem Dixon into seventh-place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,475 points. Playing in their final regular season home games, Sweetney, Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, PA /Greater Johnstown ) (Johnstown, Pa. / Greater Johnstown) and Chris McFarland (Montgomery Village, MD /Riverdale Baptist) (Montgomery Village, Md. / Riverdale Baptist) started and helped Saint Francis head coach Don Friday record his 100th career win.
At 11-16 overall and 9-7 in the league, SFU will travel to Mount St. Mary's for a game with major playoff implications, at 7:30 p.m. contest on Thursday night. The Red Flash will then travel to Staten Island, N.Y. to face Wagner in the regular season finale at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Saint Francis is still in contention to clinch one of the Northeast Conference's top four playoff seeds, which would give them a home playoff game.
Saturday afternoon's Senior Day, which was televised on WWCP-Fox8, FSN-Pittsburgh, MSG, Fox College Sports and CTSN, came down to the wire once again.
Sacred Heart's Corey Hassan, who had 20 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals, tied the game at 61-61 on the back end of two free throws with 4:13 to play. However, Sweetney and junior Cedric Latimer (Los Angeles, CA /Windward) (Los Angeles, Calif. / Windward) put on a show for the hometown crowd over the final four minutes.
Sweetney made a strong move through the lane for a layup to give the lead back to Saint Francis for good, 63-61, with 3:53 to play. He then came up with a defensive rebound, and Latimer wound up with his second thunderous dunk of the afternoon to make it 65-61. Latimer pump faked at the 3-point line and brought the crowd to its feet with his slam.
Not backing down, Liam Potter answered for Sacred Heart at the other end with a jam of his own to pull the Pioneers within two with 2:31 to play.
Latimer gave SFU a little cushion, 68-63, by nailing a 3-pointer, but Ryan Litke went toe-to-toe and hit a trifecta to make it 68-66 with 1:58 left. The Pioneers appeared to gain an upper hand when the Red Flash were called for a key offensive charge with 1:50 remaining, but Latimer made a defensive stand at the other end and forced Potter into a travel with 1:21 left.
After an SFU missed shot, Sweetney came up with an acrobatic and important offensive rebound and drew a foul. He went to the stripe for a one-and-one and put the Red Flash closer to victory by making both attempts to take a 70-66 led with 54.1 ticks on the clock.
Hassan drew contact at the other end and brought SHU's deficit to two, 70-68, with 40.8 seconds remaining.
However, junior Sorena Orandi (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden/Solebury Prep) (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden / Solebury Prep) had a great dribble drive and layup to give Saint Francis a 72-68 cushion with 17.8 seconds left. Sweetney then came up with a big defensive rebound and got fouled with 4.9 seconds left to finish the game. He made 1-of-2 free throws to put the game out of reach, and give Saint Francis its longest winning streak (four) since the 2002-03 campaign.
The Red Flash shot 51.9 percent in the second half, and finished 44.0 percent for the game. They were 20-of-26 at the charity stripe (.769) and had a strong 9-of-21 effort from beyond the arc. Sacred Heart shot 42.1 percent and made 12-of-16 at the line (.750).
Freshman Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) (Cleveland, Ohio / Lutheran East) had 13 points and 5 rebounds for Saint Francis, while Latimer finished with 12 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and two rattling slam dunks. Orandi added 8 points, 1 steal and a season-tying 5 assists.
Ryan Litke finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds for Sacred Heart, while Chauncey Hardy contributed 15 points and 3 steals, and Potter had 7 points and 13 rebounds.
At 9-7 in the league, the Red Flash clinched their first non-losing record in the Northeast Conference since 2004-05 when they finished 10-8. They also improved to 2-0 under Friday in Senior Day games.
The first half was a game of runs as Saint Francis jumped out to a commanding 15-1 lead until Sacred Heart scored its first bucket at the 15:33 mark. But the Pioneers got off the deck and rattled off an 18-2 run over the next 9 minutes, 12 seconds to take a 19-17 lead. They would lead by as many as six points, 26-20, in the first half, but the Red Flash would pull within one point, 27-26 at the break.
Sweetney had a game-high 14 points in the first half, and added 5 rebounds and 2 assists.
He came out of the break to draw a foul and go to the free throw line. He drilled both to give the lead back to Saint Francis, 28-27, just 13 seconds in. It sparked a 7-0 run to start the second stanza, allowing the Red Flash to jump out 33-27 with 18:18 to go.
However, Sacred Heart (13-14, 6-10 NEC) scratched and clawed before taking a 39-38 lead on Hardy's 3-pointer with 15:01 remaining. The Pioneers would lead by as many as four points in the half, 51-47, before SFU came back to take it away. Saint Francis used a 7-0 run, sparked by another Latimer dunk, to take a 57-53 lead with 8:02 to play, and it was a lead the Red Flash would never relinquish. Sacred Heart would tie it at 61-61, but Latimer, Orandi and Sweetney would make sure the Red Flash clinched a 9-5 home regular season home record at DeGol Arena for the 2009-10 season.
