LORETTO, Pa.  (Jan. 15, 2011) – The Saint Francis men's basketball team used a late 17-0 run to turn the tides in a thrilling 69-55 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday night at DeGol Arena.

 

The Red Flash scored the game's opening bucket, but fell behind moments later and trailed the Knights by as many as nine points until senior Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Crotia/Life Center Acadamy) hit a pair of free throws to give SFU a 53-51 lead with 4:28 remaining in the contest. The Red Flash held Fairleigh Dickinson to just four points over the final 6:29 in the game.

 

Sophomore Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City) tied career highs with 24 points and 5 assists and pitched in 4 rebounds, while freshman Kameron Ritter also tied a career high with 11 points to go with a career high 3 steals and 2 rebounds. Sophomore Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) contributed 13 points, 8 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal.

 

Mike Scott had 19 points and 9 rebounds for the Knights, while John Galvin added 10 points and 10 boards and Briahn Smith contributed 13 points and 5 rebounds.

 

Saint Francis won its second straight game to improve to 4-13 overall, and 2-4 in the Northeast Conference. The Red Flash are now 4-1 at DeGol Arena, and have a 13-6 home record over the past two seasons. They will return to action at 7 p.m. on Thursday when St. Francis-NY visits for another pivotal league game.

 

“These guys hung in there and battled,” said Saint Francis head coach Don Friday.

 

The Red Flash allowed the Knights to shoot 52.0 percent (13-of-25) in the first half, and took a 33-26 deficit into the locker room at the break. However, Saint Francis came out with more intensity and shot 59.1 percent (13-of-22) in the second half. The Red Flash scored a season-high 43 points in the second period, and held FDU to a season-low 22 points.

 

“I thought the momentum changed on the very first possession of the second half,” Friday said. “We were more accountable to each other defensively, and being in help, and getting a stop. When it came off the glass, we ran it hard up the floor and Umar (Shannon) got a wide open 15-footer on the wing. That was so important.

 

“We challenged them at halftime, and we challenged them with intensity. These guys answered the bell, and that's a sign of growth.”

 

Shannon scored the first five points of the second half to cut FDU's lead to 33-31. The Knights nursed a lead of no larger than four over the 10 minutes until Scott hit a 3-pointer to make it 48-43 with 8:23 to play.

 

Shannon hit a pair of free throws and Jukic made a jumper to cut it to one, 48-47, with 6:42 left. Smith nailed a 3-pointer to make it a four-point game, 51-47, with 6:29 remaining, but that would be FDU's final bucket for the next 4 minutes, 57 seconds.

 

Junior Jon Taylor (Bowie, Md./Montgomery College-Germantown) and Shannon hit back-to-back jumpers on consecutive trips down the floor to knot it at 51-51, and Jukic gave the Red Flash the lead with a pair of free throws to make it 53-51.

 

Ritter forced a turnover on the defensive end, and sophomore Chris Johnson (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) hit Shannon for a big 3-pointer that made it 56-51. The Saint Francis defense forced a shot clock violation on the next Knights' possession and Shannon turned it into a pair of free throws for a 58-51 lead. After Felder hit two more free throws, Ritter hit a 3-pointer from the corner and completed a four-point play to bring the crowd to its feet and put the game away with a 63-51 lead with 1:44 remaining.

 

 “Our intensity came up on the defensive end, and our purpose, concentration and execution on the offensive end became really, really apparent,” Friday said.

 

Johnson had 5 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals but, more importantly, had 6 assists and no turnovers in the game.

 

“We were in a funk, but now we're back,” Shannon said. “We still have a lot of work to do. Coming off an 11-game losing streak, there wasn't any day there in practice where we weren't working hard. I thought it would all pay off one way or another. I don't think anybody in our program is satisfied with what's going on. These wins are good, but we still have a lot more work to do.”

 

Saint Francis shot 50.0 percent (23-of-46) in the game, and had 14 assists to 9 turnovers. The Red Flash forced Fairleigh Dickinson into 17 turnovers.

 

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