SFU NOTES  -  CCSU NOTES

LIVE STATS  -  LIVE VIDEO  -  AUDIO STREAM

LORETTO, Pa. (Feb. 15, 2012) – The Saint Francis University men's basketball team opens its final home stand of the 2011-12 season Thursday with a meeting against the Central Conn. State Blue Devils at 7 p.m. in DeGol Arena.
 
FLASH FACTS
- The Red Flash enter the weekend looking to end a six-game losing skid that features three consecutive home losses. Central Connecticut State enters the weekend on a four games slide and on a five-game road losing streak.
 
- Saint Francis has played in 13 games this season that have been decided by 10 points or fewer. The Red Flash hold a record of 4-9 in such contests with three of those wins coming on their home floor.
 
- SFU has shot over 45-percent 14 times this season, over 50-percent seven times and over 60-percent three times.
 
- Scott Eatherton (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) registered his sixth double-double of the season at Robert Morris Saturday with 16 points and 12 rebounds. All of the sophomore's double-doubles have come on the road this season and have been of the point and rebound variety.
 
- Eatherton ranks in the Top 10 in the NEC in scoring while also sitting in the top five in rebounding, field goal percentage and blocks. He also stands third in the NEC in defensive rebounding and the sophomore does all this while averaging the 18th most minutes in the conference.
 
- Kameron Ritter has continued his rise up the assists list in the Northeast Conference. The sophomore ranks 11th in league play in total assists and 11th in assist-to-turnover ratio after not playing the first two conference games of the season at the point guard position.
 
- Ritter posted 12 assists against Robert Morris during rivalry week with just five turnovers. The sophomore posted 10 turnovers in two games the pervious week, his highest total in a week since moving to point guard.
 
- Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter)'s offensive game has grown by leads and bounds in recent weeks. In his last six games, Brown has averaged 9.8 points a game and his 4.7 rebounds a game is the second best mark on the team in that span.
 
- Brown is coming off the best game of his young Red Flash career in which the rookie tallied a season-best 17 points and tied a season-best with eight rebounds.
 
- Stephon Whyatt (Jersey City, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) has stepped up his offensive game of late and has averaged 11.2 points a game in his last six contests with double-figure performances in five of those six games.
 
- Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) has tallied two 20 point games this season with both coming in the past three weeks including his career-high 27 point effort against St. Francis (NY).
 
- In CCSU's last trip to Loretto on Feb. 3, 2011 the Blue Devils knocked off the Flash 79-86 to end SFU's four game home winning streak at the time.
 
- The Blue Devils enter Thursday's match up with the best free throw percentage in league play this season, while the Flash rank 11th in NEC play in free throw percentage.
 
- The Red Flash hold a 47-percent field goal percentage in league play this season which ranks second in NEC action. CCSU ranks ninth in field goal percentage in league play as they shoot just 41.8-percent from the field. SFU holds a record of 4-3 against teams that shoot under 43-percent in league play.
 
-  Red Flash also enter the weekday match up with the Blue Devils holding better marks in conference play in 3-point field goal percentage (SFU - .340, CCSU - .296) and 3-point field goal defense (SFU - .333, CCSU - .345).
 
ERVIN LOOKS FOR CONSISTENCY
Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) started the season slow and averaged just 5.4 points a game in his first five contests but the junior then rattled off 10 double-digit efforts in his next 11 games. Ervin of late has struggled to find consistency, the junior has had just four double-digit efforts in his last nine games but two of those games, Ervin has tallied 20 or more points. The guard also dropped a career-best 27 points in that span but followed it up with just four points.     
 
LAW FRIM OF BROWN, JACKSON AND WHYATT  
The freshman trio of Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter), Ollie Jackson (Dallas, Texas/Pinkston ) and Stephon Whyatt (Jersey City, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) have been impressive during their rookie seasons and look to be starting to step up into starting rolls. Brown posted one of the best offensive games of his young career at Robert Morris with a team-high 17 points and he matched his career-high of eight rebounds as well. After some midseason struggles Stephon Whyatt (Jersey City, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) has turned into a double-digit scoring machine with four consecutive games in double-digits and five double figure efforts in his last six games. Ollie Jackson (Dallas, Texas/Pinkston ) is still struggling to find consistency but when he is at his best the rookie guard is one of the best 3-point shooters in the conference. Jackson recorded a season-high 24 points against NEC leading LIU Brooklyn but struggled in his next contest and registered just four points against Mount St. Mary's. In home games this season Jackson shoots 43-percent from the field and 45.2-percent from beyond the 3-point arc.   
 
HOME SWEET HOME
The Red Flash have enjoyed their home floor a solid amount this season with four of the team's five wins coming in DeGol Arena. Four of the Red Flashes' home losses have come by four points for fewer and in thee SFU has had a shot to win or tie the game at the buzzer. SFU shoots 7-percent better at home then its season average and its soring average rises nine points in contests at DeGol Arena as apposed to its season average. Saint Francis does allow their opponents to score more in home games but only 1.2 point more than its season average. Scott Eatherton (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) sees his season scoring average rise two points in home games and the sophomore also shoots a crazy 76.3-percent from the field in home games. Eatherton has only missed 22 shots in 93 shot attempts in DeGol Arena this season.
 
EATHERTON ONE OF THE NEC'S BEST
Eatherton has six double-doubles in conference play this season all of them have come on the road as the sophomore went from a bench player seeing limited minutes last season, to a starting roll in 2011-12. The Hershey, Pa. native leads the Red Flash in both scoring (14.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg). Eatherton is the only player in Northeast Conference to rank in the Top 10 in scoring (10th, 16.2ppg) and the top five in rebounds (Fourth, 8.6 rpg), field goal percentage (third, 60.9-percent) and blocks (Third, 1.50 bpg). Eatherton holds these numbers while averaging the 18th most minutes per game in the conference, almost three minutes a game fewer than his CCSU counterpart Ken Horton.
 
SFU VS. CCSU
The Red Flash hold an all-time record of 11-17 against Central Connecticut State and SFU has lost its last two meetings with the Blue Devils including the first meeting earlier this season. CCSU has won seven of the last 10 meetings while SFU won five of the first six meetings back in the mid to late 1990's. All-time the Red Flash hold a record of 8-8 against the Blue Devils when they hold CCSU to fewer than 70 points, when CCSU scores 70+ the Red Flash are just 3-9 against them.   
 
In the January meeting, the Red Flash ran out to an 11-point first half lead but CCSU battled back for an 11 point win, 69-58. The Red Flash out rebounded CCSU 38-30 and SFU also got then-career-highs from Scott Eatherton (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) in points and rebounds, as the sophomore tallied his first career double-double with 24 points and 12 boards. CCSU's Kyle Vinales tallied 20 first half points but was held to just seven in the second half, while SFU's Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) posted 11 by intermission but did not score again, in the first meeting.    
 
NEXT UP
The Red Flash host their final home game of the season Saturday against Bryant in a rare 11:30 a.m. contest. Saint Francis will honor its lone senior Jon Taylor (Bowie, Md./Montgomery College-Germantown) prior to the game.