RED FLASH GAME NOTES

LORETTO, Pa. - The Saint Francis men's basketball team will honor five seniors prior to its home game Saturday afternoon against LIU Brooklyn. Tip is scheduled for 1 p.m. The Flash will say goodbye to Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter), Aric Gresko (Clymer, Pa./Penns Manor), Ollie Jackson (Dallas, Texas/Pinkston ), Dominique Major (Woodbridge, Va./Forest Park) and Stephon Whyatt (Jersey City, N.J./St. Peter's Prep).

The Red Flash will look to avenge a loss to the Blackbirds, a 66-60 setback in Brooklyn last Saturday. The Flash led by as many as 15 in the first half before LIU came back to steal the victory.

Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) and Major each led the Flash with 12 points while Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) had nine.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

• Should the Flash win, it would clinch the team's first winning regular season since 2004-05.
• The Flash moved to 9-1 at home this season with Thursday's victory over Central Connecticut.
• Saturday's game has NEC repurcussions. At 8-5, the Flash is one game ahead of the Blackbirds in the standings. An LIU win, however, would give the Blackbirds the head-to-head tiebreaker with two wins over SFU.

SENIOR CLASS LEAVES ITS MARK

• The senior class that will be honored prior to the game against the Blackbirds has certainly made its mark on Saint Francis basketball. The group has been part of a turnaround that has seen the seniors win 35 games so far, the most for a Red Flash class since the seniors of 2007. Last year, they helped the team to its first NEC Tournament win since 1995 and its first road playoff win since 1989.

WINNING SEASON AROUND THE CORNER

• The Red Flash's next win will give the team its first winning regular season in 10 years. The 2004-05 Saint Francis team finished 15-13 and 10-8 in conference play. Saint Francis will need two wins in its final five conference games to clinch a winning NEC record. The 2004-05 season was also the last winning NEC record for the team.

SATURDAY'S NEC REPURCUSSIONS

• The NEC standings became even tighter after Thursday night's action. LIU Brooklyn went to Robert Morris and defeated the Colonials, 63-62. That, coupled with SFU's win over Central Connecticut, put the Flash in a tie for third place with the Colonials at 8-5. But the Flash has LIU Brooklyn right on its heels. The Blackbirds are 7-6 and tied with Mount St. Mary's for fifth place, just a game back of the Flash. Should LIU win on Saturday, it would give the Blackbirds the season tiebreaker over the Flash.

POINTS FROM THE BENCH HARD TO COME BY

• Saint Francis and Central Connecticut combined for 137 points in Thursday night's game. Remarkably, the starting fives for both teams scored 128 of those points. The Red Flash had six bench points - four from Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) and two from Michael Clark (St. Petersburg, Fla./Lakewoood) - while Shakaris Laney's three free throws were the only bench points for Central Connecticut.

HARMON SETS THE TONE

• Malik Harmon (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) came out and scored all 11 of his points in the first half of the Flash's win against the Blue Devils. In fact, all 11 of those points came in the first 7:39 of action. Harmon had three three pointers among his four made shots.

JACKSON LEADS THE WAY

• Ollie Jackson (Dallas, Texas/Pinkston ) tied with Central Connecticut's Matt Mobley for the game high in points with 18. That performance broke a three-game string for Jackson with less than 10 points. Jackson had a streak of double-digit scoring where he had at least 10 points in eight of nine games over the course of a month from late December to late January. He's currently fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 8.1 points per game.

TIP-INS

• The Flash hit seven three pointers in the first half for the second straight game. SFU finished with eight makes, moving the team to 9-2 in games that it makes eight or more.
• The Flash dominated the paint against CCSU, outscoring the Blue Devils 36-22 on the interior. Saint Francis is now 9-3 in games that it wins the battle of the paint.