HAMDEN, Conn.  (Jan. 29, 2011) – The Saint Francis men's basketball team had its five-game winning streak snapped at Northeast Conference preseason favorite Quinnipiac, 75-55, on Saturday afternoon at the TD Bank Sports Center.

 

The Bobcats held SFU scoreless for the first 8:37 in taking a 22-0 lead and never looked back in winning their second straight game since the return of reigning NEC Player-of-the-Year Justin Rutty. Quinnipiac improved to 14-7 overall and 6-4 in the NEC.

 

The Red Flash suffered their first loss in three weeks to drop to 7-14 overall, and even their record at 5-5 in the Northeast Conference. Saint Francis will return to action with a pivotal two-game home stand next week. SFU will play host to Central Connecticut State at 7 p.m. on Thursday night, and then play Bryant in a rare 3 p.m. start on Saturday.

 

Freshmen Scott Eatherton (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) and Kameron Ritter paced the Red Flash with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Sophomore Chris Johnson (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) added 9 points and 4 assists, and sophomore Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) pitched in 8 points. Eatherton had a career-high 3 blocks to lead all players.

 

Rutty led all scorers with 12 points and 5 rebounds, while Deontay Twyman and James Johnson added 11 points each.

 

“This was one where we came out and couldn't hit a shot and Quinnipiac really played well from the outset,” said Saint Francis head coach Don Friday. “It's a disappointing end to this five-game winning streak, but we'll regroup and try to start a new one against a tough CCSU squad on Thursday night. We need our fans to come out and help us with our home court advantage. This is the an exciting time of year for college basketball and we want to share it with our fans.”

 

Quinnipiac came out strong and scored the game's first 22 points to put the Red Flash in a deep hole. SFU closed the half on a 16-9 run, but trailed 35-16 at the break. Saint Francis had 15 turnovers and shot just 5-of-19 (.263) in the first 20 minutes.

 

Sophomore Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City), Eatherton and Chris Johnson (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) hit 3-pointers on consecutive trips down the floor to cut it to 43-27 with 16:01 to play. The Red Flash forced a turnover at the other end and looked to be in business but were whistled for a charge on the next possession.

 

The teams traded buckets before Quinnipiac went on an 11-3 run to put the game out of reach, 56-32, with 11:01 left.

 

SFU shot 43.6 percent in the game (17-of-39), while the Bobcats shot 52.5 percent (31-of-59). Quinnipiac turned 21 Red Flash turnovers into 23 points, and had a 17-0 edge in second chance points.

 

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