Up Next: Coming off a highly successful weekend sweep of teams - St. Francis-NY and Long Island - tied for third place in the Northeast Conference, the Red Flash will face an even tougher test this weekend. Saint Francis will play a pair of games against first-place Robert Morris during the conference's rivalry week. The two western Pennsylvania schools will lock heads in a home-and-home series, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night, at DeGol Arena. SFU?will then travel to Robert Morris for a 7 p.m. contest on Saturday. The Colonials are all alone in first place with a 9-1 Northeast Conference mark. They have won seven straight games to bring their overall record to 14-8. SFU sits in a three-way tie for sixth place with a 7-14 overall mark, and a 5-5 record in the Northeast Conference.
The Series/Last Meeting: Robert Morris won both meetings last year to improve to 34-28 in the all-time series against the Red Flash. The Colonials, which were picked to finish tied for third in the NEC, have won the last three meetings, and eight of the last nine. SFU's last win came in Moon Township on Dec. 8, 2007, a 75-66 victory.
Sizing Up The Colonials: Robert Morris features a remarkably balanced roster with only one player averaging double digits in scoring, but with eight players tallying 6.0 points or more per game. Also, the Colonials have 10 players who average better than 10 minutes of action per game. Freshman Karon Abraham has emerged as perhaps the favorite to take home Northeast Conference Rookie-of-the-Year honors. The Paterson, New Jersey native leads RMU in scoring 12.9 ppg and leads the Northeast Conference in free throw percentage. He has made 82-of-93 free throw attempts (.882). Rob Robinson is second on the team in scoring (9.7 ppg) and leads the squad in rebounds (5.6 rpg). Mezie Nwigwe brings home 9.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg and 2.8 apg, and Velton Jones averages 8.1 ppg and 2.6 apg, and has a team-high 29 steals.
Red Flash Quick Notes:
* The Red Flash have a 7-4 record at home, including a 5-1 mark in Northeast Conference games this season. The seven home wins are the most since the 2004-05 season. Saint Francis has now won three straight home games for the first time since the last home game of 2004-05 and the first two home games of 2005-06. The Red Flash are also 6-2 in their last eight home games.
* Saturday night's 74-73 victory vs. Long Island was the first overtime game of the season for SFU. The Red Flash improved to 2-0 in overtime games under second-year head coach Don Friday.
* Saint Francis has scored 70-plus points in three straight games for the first time this season. The Red Flash last scored 70-plus in three wins at the end of the 2006-07 season. They last did it in four straight games in 2002-03.
* Senior Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist), who was named NEC Player-of-the-Week for the second time this season on Monday, reached the 1,300-point mark for his career (Jan. 23) at Fairleigh Dickinson, and became just the seventh player to reach 1,300 points and 650 rebounds at SFU. He is 11th on the school's all-time scoring list (1,366 points), and 14th-place all-time at SFU with 695 rebounds. Sweetney played in his 100th career game last Saturday night against Long Island.
* Sweetney is now 30th all-time in rebounds in Northeast Conference history.
* The Red Flash forced St. Francis-NY into 24 turnovers on Jan. 28, a season-high for any SFU?opponent. Saint Francis also had a season-high 14 steals.
* On the season, SFU is shooting 45.6 percent at home, while it is shooting 37.8 percent on the road. The Red Flash are also a better free throw shooting team at home (.751) than they are away from DeGol Arena (.646).
* SFU is 4-1 on the season when it takes a lead into halftime. The Red Flash led 42-36 at the break on Jan. 23 at FDU, but dropped a heartbreaking 78-75 contest. Saint Francis then stormed back from a six-point halftime deficit to defeat Long Island in overtime, improving to 3-13 in game's that it trailed at the break.
* Saint Francis exceeded its Northeast Conference win total from a season ago by defeating St. Francis-NY on Jan. 28. SFU then exceeded its overall win total from the last two seasons by beating Long Island in overtime, on Jan. 30.
* After scoring 103 points in the first 43 games of his career (2.4 ppg), junior Sorena Orandi (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden/Solebury Prep) has tallied 125 (10.4 ppg) in the last 12 games.
* Freshman Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) tied a career high with three blocks against FDU on Jan. 16, and has 12 of his team-high 18 blocks in the past eight games.
* The Red Flash have just one player - Devin Sweetney (Washington, DC /Riverdale Baptist) - who ranks among the Northeast Conference's top 30 players in minutes played per game. Sweetney is 15th in averaging 31.68 mpg.
* Saint Francis is second in the Northeast Conference in free throw percentage (.710), and in 3-point field goal percentage (.376), and is third in assists per game (12.95 apg).
Making Strides: After recording a 24-91 overall record the past four seasons, Saint Francis has made significant strides in getting back to respectability this season. SFU has a 7-14 record on the season, including a 5-5 mark in the NEC. The Red Flash have defeated the two teams that were voted to finish first and second, respectively, in the NEC. They handed Mount St. Mary's, selected to win the conference, back on Dec. 5. Saint Francis then handed Long Island an overtime loss on Jan. 30. The Blackbirds were picked to finish second in the league.
a Young and the Restless: Of the 4,225 minutes played over the first 21 games of the season, 2,618 (62.0 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 57.6 percent of the Red Flash scoring through 21 games.
