Saint Francis Media Notes
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LORETTO, Pa. - The Saint Francis men's basketball team opens December with a visit from Lehigh on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The Red Flash and Mountain Hawks have played in each of the past eight seasons, with Lehigh winning all eight contests. Last year's 61-59 Lehigh victory in Bethlehem was the closest in that eight-game span. 

The Red Flash enters the game on a two-game losing streak after losing at UMES, 70-57, on Black Friday. Though SFU has lost its past two games, the Red Flash has also both of its home games this season. Last year, Saint Francis won its first three home games for the first time since the 2004-05 season. SFU has the chance to match that feat with a victory over Lehigh. Saint Francis won its first six home games last year. 

NOTES FROM UMES

• Senior Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) had his best game of the young season, scoring 15 points and adding 13 rebounds. He also hit his first three pointer of the season.
• Freshman Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) scored a season-best 17 points to lead Red Flash scorers. He made three three pointers and added three assists.
• Blackmon's brother, Mark, played five minutes off the bench for UMES and hit his lone field goal attempt.
• UMES became the first team to shoot 50 percent or better against the Flash since LIU Brooklyn shot 54.2 percent last Valentine's Day in Loretto. SFU entered the game with an NEC-leading defensive field goal percentage of 40.3.
• Saint Francis failed in its effort to become the third team in school history, and second in a row, to win three games in the month of November.
• The win was the first ever for UMES in six tries against Saint Francis.

HOME COOKING

Saint Francis finished the 2014-15 season with a 10-3 home record, and all three of those losses either came by one possession or in overtime. The 10 wins at home in one season are the most since SFU won 11 in 2004-05. In his first two seasons at the helm, head coach Rob Krimmel was 8-18 at home. Including this year's two wins, he is 12-3 at DeGol Arena since the start of last season. 

TAKING ADVANTAGE AT THE STRIPE

Coming into this week's action, the Red Flash has scored 24.9 percent of its points from the free throw line, the highest percentage in the Northeast Conference. The national average for points from the free throw line is 20.9 percent. The Flash gets 49 percent of its points on two pointers and 26.1 percent on three pointers. Saint Francis is also not fouling its opponents. SFU commits the least amount of fouls in the conference with 93 through five games. 

TAKING AWAY THE THREE POINTER

• Saint Francis currently leads the NEC with a three-point field goal percentage allowed of 28.6. That's good for 46th in the nation out of 346 teams. 
• Conversely, the Flash is third in the league in three-point percentage, making 31.7 of its three-point shots. Going back to the previous stat and its 26.1 percentage of points made off three pointers, the Flash is still about three percent below the national average for points accounted for by way of three pointers. 

DRINNON'S DOUBLE-DOUBLE

Senior Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) recorded his first double-double of the season in the Flash's lost at UMES on Friday with 15 points and 13 rebounds. That's the sixth double-double of his career. He had three last season and two as a sophomore in 2013-14. Drinnon also hit his first three pointer of the season. 

BLACKMON NETS 17

Freshman Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) recorded his second double-digit scoring game of his young career when he netted 17 points at UMES. Blackmon, who earned his first start in the game, is currently third on the team with his 11 points per game. He hit three from three-point range on four chances. 

OWN THE INSIDE TO WIN THE GAME

The sample size is admittedly small, but the Red Flash has two indicators that show how important winning the inside battles can be to win games. So far, the Flash has won both games in which its won the rebounding battle and the points in the paint category. In the three losses, SFU lost in both of those columns.

ABOUT LEHIGH

The Mountain Hawks are off to a slow start, entering Wednesday's game with an 0-6 record. Lehigh's last two losses, however, have come to ranked opponents. The Mountain Hawks lost at No. 12 Virginia, 80-54, on Nov. 25 and at No. 15/16 Purdue, 77-55, on Nov. 28. The game at Saint Francis will be Lehigh's sixth road game in its first seven contests. 

Lehigh is led by junior center Tim Kempton. He's averaging 16.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Austin Price (12.2 ppg), Kahron Ross (9.7 ppg, 5.2 apg) and Jesse Chuku (9.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg) are also top options for the Mountain Hawks. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Saint Francis plays at No. 2 Maryland on Friday night before hosting Duquesne at the Cambria County War Memorial on Dec. 12. Lehigh plays two more Northeast Conference opponents in the coming weeks. It travels to Robert Morris on Dec. 17 before hosting Mount St. Mary's on Dec. 19. Its next game is home to Rochester College on Saturday afternoon. 

SERIES HISTORY

Lehigh holds a 9-3 advantage in the series over the Red Flash, and that includes winning the last nine games. The teams have played in each of the past eight seasons, with Lehigh winning all eight games. The games in each of the past two seasons have been decided by single digits, including Lehigh's 61-59 win last season in Bethlehem. In the team's last meeting in Loretto in Dec. 2013, Lehigh came away with a 57-50 win. 

KRIMMEL INTO 10th PLACE ON WINS LIST

Head coach Rob Krimmel moved into 10th place on the Saint Francis wins list with his 33rd career victory over American. Krimmel passed his predecessor, Don Friday, to move into the top-10. Friday coached the Flash from 2008-12 and finished with 32 victories. Krimmel is now nine wins behind Kevin Porter for ninth place. Porter came back to coach the Flash from 1983-87 following an outstanding playing career in Loretto. He had 42 wins in his four years.

BACK-TO-BACK BLOWOUT WINS

With SFU's 20-point victory over American on Nov. 21, the Red Flash won consecutive games by 20-plus points for the first time since the first two games of the 2006-07 season. Saint Francis opened that season with wins over Lock Haven (94-60) and Saint Bonaventure (76-54). SFU defeated Westminster, 103-72, before beating American, 68-48.

FLASH JUST SHORT ON NOVEMBER WINS MARK

Prior to last season, the Red Flash had won three games in the month of November just one time, in 1997-98. Saint Francis matched that feat in 2014-15 with wins over Keystone, UMES and Navy. SFU won two of its first three games this November, but losses at Kent State and UMES left the Flash one win shy of tying the 1997-98 and 2014-15 teams for the best Novembers in school history.

POSTSEASON SUCCESS

Last season, the Red Flash became the first team in school history to reach the Northeast Conference Tournament semifinals for the second consecutive season. In each of those two seasons, however, the Flash fell to the top-seeded team. Two years ago, SFU lost at Robert Morris, 60-57. Last season, SFU fell to St. Francis Brooklyn, 62-48. Despite the loss, Saint Francis still earned a bid to the CIT. In a first-round game, the Flash hosted Bowling Green. In that contest, the lead changed hands 13 times and the score was tied on eight occasions before the Falcons left Loretto with a 67-64 victory.    

A DECEMBER TO REMEMBER

December 2014 will go down as one of the most successful non-conference months in recent memory for the Red Flash. In a three-game stretch, Saint Francis defeated Albany, Duquesne and Rutgers. Albany was on its way to a 24-9 overall record and third straight America East Conference championship. The Flash earned its first win over Duquesne since 1990, snapping Duquesne's 11-game win streak in the series. It was also Saint Francis' first win at Duquesne since 1966, breaking a 16-game streak. Three days after the Duquesne victory, the Red Flash went to Rutgers and upset the Scarlet Knights, 73-68. The win was the first ever for a Northeast Conference school against a Big Ten opponent.

FLASH POINTS

• The Red Flash will face longtime rival Duquesne at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown, Pa., on Dec. 12. The two teams have a long history in that building, including a Red Flash win over the second-ranked Dukes in 1955. 
• Saint Francis is scheduled to play two games on national television in 2015-16. SFU will face No. 2 Maryland on Big Ten Network on Dec. 4. SFU will also face NEC rival Robert Morris on ESPNU on Feb. 11.