LORETTO, Pa.  (Feb. 26, 2011) – Mount St. Mary's scored the game's first seven points and never looked back in spoiling Senior Day for the Saint Francis men's basketball team, 64-55, on Saturday night at DeGol Arena.

 

The Red Flash recognized seniors Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Crotia/Life Center Acadamy) and Sorena Orandi (Vastra Frolunda, Sweden/Solebury Prep) prior to the game in their final home game at DeGol Arena.

 

SFU concluded the regular season with a 9-20 overall record, and 7-11 mark in the Northeast Conference. The Red Flash will continue play on Thursday when they travel to Long Island for a Northeast Conference quarterfinal match-up. Game time will be announced later.

 

Saint Francis finished with a 7-5 record at DeGol Arena this season, but dropped its regular season finale for the second straight season.

 

Sophomore Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City) led all scorers with 20 points on a career night at the free throw line. He made 13-of-14 attempts at the stripe, and finished with 4 rebounds and a career-tying 3 steals. Junior Jon Taylor (Bowie, Md./Montgomery College-Germantown) added 9 points, 4 rebounds and 1 block, while sophomore Chris Johnson (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) had 8 points and 3 assists and Orandi had a season-high 7 points.

 

Lamar Trice had 17 points for the Mountaineers, while Shawn Atupem added 12 points.

 

“We left a lot of points on the rim tonight,” said Saint Francis head coach Don Friday. “We had three missed layups, we missed some front ends of some 1-and-1's and we missed some free throws… We got a night here to turn this around, come back in tomorrow morning, regroup as a staff, get some focus here and get ready to go play a real good Long Island team on Thursday. We've got to go let it rip, go play and get this behind us.”

 

Mount St. Mary's (11-20, 9-9 NEC) shot 58.6 percent in the first half to build a lead as large as 21 points. Meanwhile, SFU struggled at 30.0 percent and committed 11 turnovers in the period.

 

The Mountaineers took their largest lead of the game, 42-19, with 18:33 remaining in the game. But the Red Flash would start to scratch and claw their way back into the game. They held Mount St. Mary's without a field goal for 5 minutes, 35 seconds during a 17-3 run to pull within five, 51-46, with 4:37 left.

 

However, the Mountaineers responded with a 6-0 run to put the game out of reach at 57-46 with 2:42 left. They hit 7-of-8 free throw attempts in the final 2:42 to seal the win.

 

“Give Mount St. Mary's some credit,” Friday said. “This was a big game for them. I'm sure they didn't want to go play Long Island. They wanted it more than we did tonight, and that's the biggest disappointment.”

 

The Red Flash shot 81.0 percent (21-of-26) from the free throw line, including a 14-for-17 effort in the second half.

 

It was all Mount St. Mary's in the first half as the Red Flash struggled on offense. The Mountaineers shot 58.6 percent (17-of-29) from the field, including 4-of-6 from outside the arc, and forced Saint Francis into 11 turnovers. SFU made just 31.6 percent (6-of-19) of its field goal attempts.

 

The Mountaineers scored the game's first seven points and, after the Red Flash pulled within 18-13, used an 11-0 run to take a 29-13 lead.

 

Trice had a game-high 13 points at the break for Mount St. Mary's. Shannon had 6 points and 2 rebounds at halftime.

 

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