NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Saint Francis men's basketball team opened its 2015-16 season Friday night at No. 18 Notre Dame, and the defending ACC champions pulled away in the second half to defeat the Red Flash, 87-56, in front of 9,149 fans at Purcell Pavilion.

Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) scored 10 of his team-high 15 points in the first half as the Red Flash kept the Fighting Irish to within single digits for the majority of the opening period. Brown, the team's second leading returning scorer from a year ago, scored six of the team's first nine points. The other three in that early run came on a deep three pointer from the leading returning scorer, point guard Malik Harmon (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King).

A layup from Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) with 12:37 to play in the first half gave SFU an 11-10 lead. After a 6-1 run by Notre Dame, Harmon hit his second three pointer with 11:20 remaining to pull the Flash back to within a point, 16-15. Notre Dame picked up the defensive pressure after that make. SFU went nearly six minutes without hitting a field goal as it only picked up points on two Patrick Wrencher (West Chester, Ohio/Archbishop Moeller) free throws.

Still, Saint Francis held tough, and freshman Ifeanyi Umezurike (Uturu, Abia State, Nigeria/Montverde Academy)'s jumper in the lane with 5:28 left cut the lead back into single digits, 27-19. The Flash again went cold from the floor, using four free throws and a bucket from Brown to close the half trailing, 38-25. The Irish showcased its superior size, outscoring the Flash, 18-4, in the paint.

Saint Francis showed a good jump to open the second half. The Flash defense forced three Fighting Irish turnovers in the first two minutes. On the offensive end, senior Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) hit a three pointer and a jumper on two of the Flash's first four possessions of the second half to cut the Notre Dame advantage to 38-30. After an Irish three, Drinnon grabbed an offensive rebound and finished at the rim to cut the lead back to single digits for the final time, 41-32, with 17:31 to play.

Over the next nine minutes, however, the Irish pulled away on the strength of a 22-5 run. Brown was the only SFU player to reach double digits, but Basil Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) finished with nine points on 9-of-10 shooting from the free throw line. Drinnon had seven points and a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Josh Nebo (Katy, Texas/Cypress Lakes) had five rebounds to go along with a block and a steal. Brown also led the way with four assists.

Notre Dame guard Demetrius Jackson led all scorers with 27 points, while Zach Auguste had 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Irish. Saint Francis was looking for its first season-opening win since the 2009-10 season.

Saint Francis returns to Loretto for its home opener on Tuesday night against Westminster at 7 p.m.