JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Saint Francis men's basketball team rekindled old memories when it hosted the Duquesne Dukes at the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown on Saturday afternoon. This meeting, a 67-65 victory for the Dukes, will fit nicely into the teams' history at the venerable arena.
Duquesne (8-2) held the lead from the 8:21 mark of the first half until the final minute of play.
Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) hit his second layup in a row to put the Flash ahead, 64-63, with 38 seconds remaining. After a Duquesne missed free throw, L.G. Gill recovered the offensive rebound and scored on a layup to give the Dukes a 65-64 lead with 22 seconds left.
On the Flash's ensuing possession,
Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) earned a foul call and made the first of his two shots to tie the score. On the second, the shot rimmed out. Gill found Micah Mason in transition, and Mason hit a jumper from the right baseline to give Duquesne a 67-65 lead with two seconds left. SFU's Hail Mary at the buzzer was no good.
The Flash, though not having a lead through the majority of the game, managed to stay within striking distance throughout. Duquesne scored nine straight points to take a 29-20 lead with 6:17 left in the first half. But the Flash fought back with a 9-2 run fueled by a three pointer from
Malik Harmon (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) and a dunk by
Josh Nebo (Katy, Texas/Cypress Lakes). That dunk pulled the Flash to within 31-29 with 3:50 left in the half. Nebo finished with four points but added eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Harmon stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Duquesne took a 38-32 lead into the intermission after a Brown three pointer in the final minute pulled the Flash back to within two possessions. Brown finished with a team-high 16 points.
Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half. He now has five double-digit scoring efforts this season, matching his total from all of last year.
Duquesne scored the opening bucket of the second half to lead by eight, but the Flash again came back to cut the lead to one. Brown hit two three pointers sandwiched around a Harmon three to make it 42-41 Duquesne.
Millaud-Meunier was fouled on a successful three pointer with 4:16 to play to cut the lead back to a point, but he missed the free throw. Two possessions later,
Basil Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) hit a layup to cut it to 61-60 Duquesne, but his free throw attempt also misfired. Blackmon gave the Flash a one-point lead with his two layups, but the Dukes took advantage of its final shot to bring home the victory.
Thompson finished with 10 points off the bench for his second double-digit scoring game of the season. Saint Francis assisted on 16 of its 24 baskets. The SFU defense held Duquesne to nearly 19 points below its season scoring average of 85.7.
Saturday marked the 11
th time the teams have played at the War Memorial. They played yearly from 1954-62 and played for the last time in Jan. 1971.
Saint Francis hits the road next week for games at Binghamton on Tuesday and at Albany on Saturday.
