Up Next: The Saint Francis men's basketball team is hoping to close out the regular season on a positive note when it visits Wagner for a 7 p.m. contest on Saturday night. The Red Flash had their four-game winning streak snapped with a 67-51 defeat on Thursday night at Mount St. Mary's. SFU has won two of its last three regular season finales.
Playoff Chase: The eight-team Northeast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament field is nearly set, but the final seedings will not be determined until after Saturday's action is complete. Monmouth joined the tournament by clinching a playoff berth on Thursday night. Central Connecticut State and St. Francis-NY will play each other on the final day of the regular season to determine the last playoff team.
Northeast Conference Standings
School NEC Pct. Streak
1. Robert Morris* 15-2 .882 W1
2. Quinnipiac* 14-3 .824 W2
3. Mount St. Mary's* 11-6 .647 W9
4. Long Island* 10-7 .588 L1
Fairleigh Dickinson* 10-7 .588 W2
6. Saint Francis (PA)* 9-8 .529 L1
7. Monmouth* 8-9 .471 L2
Central Connecticut State 8-9 .471 W2
St. Francis-NY 8-9 .471 W1
10. Sacred Heart 6-11 .353 L3
11. Wagner 2-15 .118 L7
12. Bryant 1-16 .059 L2
*Qualified for the 2010 Northeast Conference Tournament
NEC Tiebreaker Scenarios
(updated thru games of 2/25)
* Robert Morris can clinch the NEC regular season title and the #1 seed in the NEC Tournament with a win or a Quinnipiac loss.
* Quinnipiac can clinch a share of the NEC regular season title and the #1 seed with a win and Robert Morris loss.
* Mount St. Mary's can clinch the #3 seed with a win or a Long Island loss. The Mount can finish no lower than #4 and has clinched a quarterfinal home game.
* Long Island can clinch the #3 seed with a win and Mount St. Mary's loss.
* Fairleigh Dickinson can finish as high as the #4 seed with a win and Long Island loss.
* Saint Francis (PA) can finish as high as the #5 seed.
- If Mount St. Mary's, Long Island and Fairleigh Dickinson finish tied for third: LIU #3, MSM #4, FDU #5
- If Long Island, Fairleigh Dickinson and Saint Francis (PA) finish tied for fourth: LIU #4, SFPA #5, FDU #6
- If Long Island and Saint Francis (PA) finish tied for fifth: LIU #5, SFPA #6
- If Fairleigh Dickinson and Saint Francis (PA) finish tied for fifth: SFPA #5, FDU #6
* Monmouth clinched a playoff berth and can finish as high as the #6 seed.
* The team that wins the CCSU-St. Francis (NY) game earns the final playoff berth. CCSU and St. Francis (NY) cannot finish higher than #7.
- If CCSU wins, Monmouth wins and Saint Francis (PA) loses: MU #6, SFPA #7, CCSU #8
- If CCSU wins, Monmouth wins and Saint Francis (PA) wins: MU #7, CCSU #8
- If CCSU wins, Monmouth loses and Saint Francis (PA) loses: SFPA #6, CCSU #7, MU #8
- If CCSU wins, Monmouth loses and Saint Francis (PA) wins: CCSU #7, MU #8
- If St. Francis (NY) wins, Monmouth wins and Saint Francis (PA) loses: MU #6, SFPA #7, SFNY #8
- If St. Francis (NY) wins, Monmouth wins and Saint Francis (PA) wins: MU #7, SFNY #8
- If St. Francis (NY) wins, Monmouth loses and Saint Francis (PA) loses: SFPA #6, SFNY #7, MU #8
- If St. Francis (NY) wins, Monmouth loses and Saint Francis (PA) wins: SFNY #7, MU #8
The Series/Last Meeting: Saint Francis won a 69-42 contest against Wagner back on Dec. 3, at DeGol Arena. However, the Seahawks have won six of the last seven dating back to the 2005-06 season.
Sizing Up The Seahawks: Picked to finish 10th in the Northeast Conference, Wagner has struggled to a 4-26 record, and a 2-15 mark in the league. The Seahawks have lost seven straight games to fall out of the Northeast Conference playoffs for the first time since 2005-06. Wagner averages 60.1 ppg and allows 69.6 ppg, and out-rebounded by its opponents by an average of 4.9 rpg. Chris Martin leads the attack for the Seahawks with 11.8 ppg and a team-high 34 steals. Michael Orock is among the league's most improved players with 10.5 ppg and a 6.3 rpg to go along with his 31 blocks. Tyler Murray has a team-high 87 assists and is putting in 8.7 ppg.
Swedish Meatballs: Over the past two months, junior Sorena Orandi (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden/Solebury Prep) has begun to show the type of promise that was evident upon his arrival in Loretto. After scoring just 103 points in the first 43 games of his career (2.4 ppg), Orandi has tallied 199 points in the last 19 games - all starts - for an average of 10.5 ppg. A native of Vastra Frolunda, Sweden, Orandi entered the season with 34 career appearances, including just one start. He tallied 72 points (2.1 ppg), 29 rebounds (0.9 rpg), 29 assists and 5 steals in those first 34 games. Since entering the starting lineup on Dec. 16 against Youngstown State, Orandi has 199 points (10.5 ppg), 60 rebounds (3.2 rpg), 51 assists (2.7 apg), and 10 steals. He is second on the team in scoring and assists, and has a team-high 32 three-pointers during that span. On the season, Orandi has reached career highs in games played (28), games started (23), field goals (77), field goal attempts (192), 3-point field goals (39) and attempts (102), free throws (37) and attempts (54), points (230), rebounds (67), assists (57), steals (14) and blocks (2). Orandi's success coincides with his second season under a head coach for the first time in his playing career. He played under various head coaches in Sweden and then moved to the United States for one year of prep school, where he played for yet another different head coach. He then played under former Red Flash head coach Bobby?Jones during his initial collegiate campaign, and has now played under head coach Don Friday for two seasons.
Young and the Restless: Of the 5,625 minutes played over the first 28 games of the season, 3,311 (58.9 percent) have been logged by the team's seven true freshmen, and transfers Cedric Latimer (Los Angeles, CA /Windward) and Aaron DeVane (Upper Marlboro, MD/Riverdale Baptist), who did not play last season. On Dec. 20 at Akron, seven of those nine players (DeVane and Ron Johnson did not play) accounted for a season-high 163 of 200 total minutes. Newcomers have also accounted for 54.3 percent of the Red Flash scoring through 28 games.
Felder is One Fine Freshman: Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) picked up his second straight, and third of the season, Choice Hotels Northeast Conference Rookie-of-the-Week award this week, after leading Saint Francis to a pair of home wins against Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart. Felder has emerged, over the past two months, as one of the top candidates for Northeast Conference Rookie-of-the-Year honors. The Red Flash have an 8-8 record during the 2010 calendar year, and Felder has been a major factor in SFU's success. Since the start of 2010, Felder is averaging 9.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.1 bpg, 0.9 spg, and 0.6 apg. He is shooting 48.7 percent from the field (56-of-115) and 44.8 percent (13-of-29) from outside the arc during that span.
Milestone Win: Head coach Don Friday earned his 100th career victory on Feb. 20, 2010, in a 73-68 victory over Sacred Heart. Friday compiled an 83-49 record in five seasons at Lycoming, and is now is his second season of a rebuilding job at Saint Francis.
Getting Back To Winning Ways: Saint Francis has reached double digits in wins for the first time since the 2004-05 season. Now the Red Flash have set their eyes on reaching double digits in Northest Conference wins. SFU had a combined 14 Northeast Conference victories over the last four years, but are sitting at 9-8 with one regular season game remaining. Saint Francis reached 10 conference wins on three different occasions in the past 12 years. SFU finished 10-8 in the league in 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05.
Four on the Floor: Saint Francis had its four game winning streak snapped on Thursday night at Mount St. Mary's, but it is a great measure of the success the program has made under second-year head coach Don Friday.The four-game winning streak was the first for the Red Flash since the 2002-03 season. The Red Flash had five winning streaks of three games over the last seven years, but the team failed to win a fourth consecutive game until last Saturday's 73-68 win over Sacred Heart.
