NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – The Saint Francis Red Flash nearly overcame an 11-point second half deficit, but a three pointer at the buzzer fell just short as the Flash fell at Central Connecticut, 53-50, Thursday night at Detrick Gymnasium.

The Flash, looking for a win to clinch its first winning regular season in 10 years, fell behind 46-35 with 11:56 to play. Saint Francis (14-12, 8-7) responded, however, with eight consecutive points to get back in the game. Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) and Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) each had four points on the run, and Millaud-Meunier's three pointer cut the deficit to 46-41.

Stephon Whyatt (Jersey City, N.J./St. Peter's Prep) cut it to 50-46 with a three-point play with 4:05 remaining, and that would be the Flash's final points until the frantic finish. Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter)'s layup with 21.9 seconds left made it 52-48. He finished with a team-high 13 points. After a CCSU free throw, Whyatt made a layup with 3.9 seconds remaining to make it 53-50. The Flash forced a trap in the corner on the inbounds play, and it was originally ruled that the ball went out of bounds off an SFU player. But after a video review, the call was reversed. SFU had one last chance with 0.9 seconds to play. Malik Harmon (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) inbounded the ball to Ollie Jackson (Dallas, Texas/Pinkston ), and his turn-and-fire three from well beyond the arc was on line, but it fell just shy of the rim.

CCSU took a 34-30 lead into the intermission as the Flash came out shooting a majority of its shots from three-point range, but not many were falling. The Flash took 18 three pointers of its 29 first half shots, but only made five of them. Jackson made a three with 6:36 to play to cut the CCSU lead to 20-19, but the Blue Devils rattled off eight consecutive points to make it 28-19 with 4:37 left. The Flash pushed back. Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) completed a three-point play and Jackson made consecutive three pointers to bring Saint Francis back to within two, 30-28. Jackson finished with 11 points.

Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) finished with nine points, while Millaud-Meunier had seven. Harmon had three points, four rebounds, two steals and two assists. The teams combined for just 10 free throws in the game, and the Flash went 5-for-6 from the stripe.

Saint Francis was vying for its first ever four-game winning streak over Central Connecticut. The Flash defeated the Blue Devils last week in Loretto but drops to 15-20 all-time against CCSU.

Saint Francis will now head to the Big Apple to face St. Francis Brooklyn for a rematch of the teams' thriller on Jan. 18. The Terriers won the game, 60-59, on a buzzer beater.