LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis men's basketball team concluded its non-conference schedule on Wednesday night against NJIT, and the Highlanders left DeGol Arena with a 77-65 victory.
The game featured several extended runs, and the early tide shifted back-and-forth as both teams took turns on the run. The Flash used an 8-0 run to take a 13-5 lead on
Malik Harmon (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King)'s three pointer with 16:06 to play in the first half. NJIT followed that with 10 consecutive points to retake the lead with 12:12 to play.
The Flash came right back with an 11-0 run of its own fueled by points from four different players.
Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) was the lone player with multiple makes on the run as
Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview),
Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) and
Josh Nebo (Katy, Texas/Cypress Lakes) all contributed with scores to make it 24-15 Red Flash with 7:23 left in the half. Drinnon finished with seven points and a game-high 12 rebounds. He came just three points of his fourth double-double of the season. Nebo added four points and four rebounds.
Harmon extended the Flash lead 10 points for the third time of the half with another three pointer with 1:46 left in the half. He also excited the crowd with a running 30-footer at the buzzer that sent SFU into the intermission with a 42-35 lead. Harmon scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half. He also added four assists and three steals.
Harmon's other points came on another three pointer in the second half, making it 48-41 Flash with 15:47 to play. That cued another NJIT run, however, as the Highlanders scored seven straight to tie the score just over two minutes later.
Georgios Angelou (Halkida, Greece/Lykeio Kanithou) broke the run with a three pointer to make it 51-48 Flash. The teams traded baskets over the next few possessions, and Blackmon put the Flash back on top, 55-54, with a thunderous tomahawk dunk on a fast break. Blackmon scored nine points with four rebounds and three steals.
After
Basil Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) tied the score at 57 with a layup at 8:30, Brown gave the Flash a 60-57 lead with a three pointer from the right corner on the next possession. Brown led all scorers with 18 points, his fifth game as the Flash's leading scorer. He chipped in with four assists. Thompson set a new career high with eight rebounds to go with his four points.
The teams stayed tight for the next few minutes, and Drinnon's layup with 5:19 to play pulled SFU to within 64-63. There was one more run left in the game, and it went against SFU. NJIT scored the next 10 points over a 4:01 span to increase its lead to 74-63 with just 1:18 remaining. During the NJIT run, the Red Flash missed four field goals, two free throws and committed two turnovers. After shooting 57.7 percent in the first half, NJIT held SFU to just 25 percent from the floor in the second half.
Saint Francis opens NEC play on Saturday against Wagner at DeGol Arena at 4 p.m. following the women's game against the Seahawks.
