FAIRFIELD, Conn. – If one play personified the Saint Francis men's basketball team's game at Sacred Heart on Saturday afternoon, it came late in the second half. With the Flash keeping the Pioneers at arm's length for much of the second half and leading 62-57, Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) went for a one-handed dunk in traffic on the right side. The ball rattled out, but Dominique Major (Woodbridge, Va./Forest Park) flew into the Red Flash bench to save the possession. Malik Harmon (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) finished the play with a reverse layup to give the Flash a seven-point lead with 3:14 left in the game.

Things didn't always go smoothly for the Flash against the Pioneers, but SFU won a big conference road game over Sacred Heart, 77-68. Saint Francis moved to 3-1 in Northeast Conference action. Harmon finished with a career-high 25 points while Brown recorded his 24^th career double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Major's save and Harmon's bucket continued the main theme of the second half. Every time Sacred Heart made a push, the Flash found a way to make a play to keep the Pioneers from seriously threatening. The lead never hit double digits until the final minute, but Sacred Heart only managed to pull the spread to a one possession game on just a handful of occasions.

The Red Flash gave itself some breathing room as Harmon scored the first six points of the second half to extend SFU's two-point halftime lead to a 37-29 advantage. Harmon (16) and Brown (15) combined for 31 of the Red Flash's 46 second-half points. A three-point play by SHU's Chris Robinson cut the Flash advantage to 47-44 with 10:56 to play. But Saint Francis responded. Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) hit one of his two three pointers on the next possession. The 9-3 run continued with Ollie Jackson (Dallas, Texas/Pinkston ) making a layup, Major hitting his second three pointer and Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) making a free throw to push the lead all the way to nine just two minutes after the three-point play.

The Pioneers controlled the glass in the first half, outrebounding the Flash, 27-15. Fourteen of those 27 boards came on the offensive end, but Saint Francis did a great job of limiting Sacred Heart to just nine second-chance points in the first half. Sacred Heart shot just 30.6 percent (11-of-36) from the field. The Flash went 5-for-10 from three-point range in the opening half as it took a 31-29 lead into the intermission. Harmon and Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) each scored nine points with the Flash going 8-for-10 from the free throw line.

Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) made four consecutive free throws on the two possessions prior to the missed dunk/Harmon layup combo late in the second half. He went 9-for-11 from the line while Harmon was 10-for-11. The Flash was 26-for-33 (78.8 percent) at the stripe for the game, including 18-for-23 in the second half. Drinnon finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and two steals.

The Flash and Pioneers will stage part two of the home-and-home series Friday night at DeGol Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.