LORETTO, Pa. – In his postgame comments, Saint Francis head coach Rob Krimmel wondered how many times a college basketball team has played consecutive games decided by a buzzer beater. Whatever that number happens to be, one can be added to it after the Red Flash's 60-59 defeat against St. Francis Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon at DeGol Arena.
 
Fresh off the electrifying 79-78 victory over Sacred Heart on Friday night, the Flash came within a few tenths of a second of moving to 5-1 in conference play and 6-0 at home. With the Flash down by a point after Chris Hooper made one of two free throws with 17 seconds left, Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) drove to the rim and was fouled by Hooper. Brown drained both free throws to give the Flash a 59-58 lead with 7.4 seconds to play.
 
The Terriers' Brent Jones took the inbounds pass and went the length of the floor. His short jumper from the right side was long, but Hooper grabbed the rebound on the left side and made the shot with the clock reading 0:00. On the floor, the officials waved the shot off. After a short video review, however, they reversed the call and awarded the basket to the Terriers for a 60-59 win.
 
"We told our guys that there is a fine line between winning and losing, but the gap in emotions is much wider," Krimmel said.
 
That the Flash had the lead with a chance to win was a testament to the team's will and ability to fight back. The Flash went over four minutes without a field goal midway through the second half as SFU's two-point halftime lead transformed into an 11-point Terriers' advantage on Jones' three pointer with 8:18 to play.
 
Down 50-39, the Flash rattled off 14 of the next 16 points to take a 53-52 lead on Ollie Jackson (Dallas, Texas/Pinkston )'s layup with 3:47 to play. The final 10 points of that stretch all came from the Flash. Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) and Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) each had three-point plays to put the run in gear. Drinnon finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, including eight points and six boards in the second half.
 
After Jackson's layup gave the Flash the lead, Jalen Cannon hit a jumper and a three pointer on consecutive possessions, but Drinnon and Brown matched with buckets of their own to tie the score at 57-57. Jones missed a jumper on the Terriers' next possession, but Hooper's offensive rebound led to his made free throw to put the Terriers ahead, 58-57. Jackson had 11 points, his seventh double-digit scoring effort in eight games.
 
Sunday marked the first loss for the Flash when leading or tied at halftime this season. SFU is now 9-1 in such games. The Red Flash was also looking for its first 5-1 start in NEC play since 1997-98, but came up just a blink shy.
 
The Terriers (11-8, 5-1) jumped out to a six-point lead early in the game, but an 11-2 run by the Flash highlighted by three pointers from Basil Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter), Dominique Major (Woodbridge, Va./Forest Park) and Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) gave the Flash a 23-18 lead with 4:55 left in the first half. Millaud-Meunier had eight points off the bench as the Flash reserves scored 16 points to the Terriers' 12.
 
Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) scored a team-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
 
The Flash (10-7, 4-2) hits the road next weekend. First up is a return trip to Wagner on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. The Flash defeated the Seahawks, 85-68, in the NEC opener Jan. 3.