EMMITSBURG, Md.  (Jan. 6, 2011) – The Saint Francis men's basketball team rallied from a 19-point first half deficit, but fell just short in its comeback attempt in a 63-56 Northeast Conference loss at Mount St. Mary's on Thursday night at Knott Arena.

 

Senior Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Crotia/Life Center Acadamy) scored 10 straight Red Flash points late in the second half to pull them within five, 53-48, with 1:42 remaining. Sophomore Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) cut it to three with a layup with 50 seconds left, but the Mountaineers answered with a dunk and made 8-of-11 free throws in the final 35 seconds to secure the win.

 

SFU fell to 2-12 overall, and 0-3 in the Northeast Conference. The Red Flash will try to snap a 10-game skid when they visit Wagner at 7 p.m. on Saturday night. The game will be televised live on ABC23 (Johnstown), Fox College Sports and MSG+. It will also be shown on tape delay at 10 p.m. on FSN-Pittsburgh.

 

“We really dug ourselves a hole there in the first half by letting them jump out to that big lead,” said Saint Francis head coach Don Friday. “I'm proud of the second half effort in coming back and having a chance to win this game. But we need to play 40 minutes to win in this league.”

 

Jukic finished with a game-high 19 points to go with 6 rebounds and 2 blocks, sophomore Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City) added 16 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, and sophomore Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) had 12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal.

 

Lamar Trice scored 15 of his 18 points in the first half for Mount St. Mary's. He also had 6 assists and 2 steals. Danny Thompson had a double-double off the bench with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Josh Castellanos contributed 10 points off the bench.

 

The Red Flash got off to a slow start, and made just 6-of-23 field goal attempts (.261) in the first half. Meanwhile, the Mountaineers came in as a 39.9 percent team from the floor, but connected on 12-of-23 first half field goal attempts (.522).

 

The Mount took a 37-22 lead into halftime, but the Saint Francis defense pressured them in the second half. The Red Flash held the Mountaineers to 11 points through the first 13 minutes of the second stanza, cutting the lead to a manageable 49-42 deficit with 6:50 remaining.

 

The Red Flash bench was outscored 24-0 in the game.

 

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