Saint Francis Media Notes
Watch on NEC Front Row  |  Listen on 1400 WWGE  | Live Stats

LORETTO, Pa. - The Saint Francis men's basketball team begins a three-game road stretch with a pair of road games this weekend. The Red Flash begins that trip at Bryant on Thursday night against the Bulldogs. SFU then moves on to Central Connecticut on Saturday afternoon.

Saint Francis will look to rebound after back-to-back home losses to Fairleigh Dickinson and Mount St. Mary's last weekend. The losses are the first back-to-back home NEC losses for the Red Flash in two years. 

Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) led all scorers in the Mount St. Mary's game with 19 points. He was very efficient from the floor, making 6-of-8 shots from the floor and 3-of-4 from three point range. He was also 4-for-4 from the free throw line.  Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) also made the most of his opportunities. He scored 18 points and was 8-for-10 from the floor. He made both of his three-point attempts.

NOTES FROM MOUNT ST. MARY'S 

• Saint Francis outrebounded its fifth consecutive opponent.
• The Mount's 21 rebounds are the fewest for an SFU opponent this season.
• Freshman Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell) earned his first career start.
• Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding)'s six assists are a new season high. 
• The game marked the first time this season that the Red Flash and its opponent both shot better than 50 percent from the floor.

OUTREBOUNDING OPPONENTS

The Red Flash outrebounded Mount St. Mary's, 31-21. That gives the Flash five straight games of outrebounding its opponents. In SFU's first 12 games of the season, the Red Flash only won the rebounding battle three times. Against Mount St. Mary's, Saint Francis outscored the Mountaineers, 17-6, thanks to 10 offensive rebounds.

KING GETS FIRST START

Freshman Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell) earned his first start for the Red Flash in Saturday's game against Mount St. Mary's. He responded with a new season high of 30 minutes while tying his season-high with five points. King's previous high was 11 minutes. 

BROWN GETS SEASON HIGH ASSISTS

Senior Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) scored just six points in Saturday's game against Mount St. Mary's but he contributed to the offensive effort with a season-high six assists. His previous season high of five came at Albany in December. His career high is eight assists, a mark he's reached three times in his career.

MORE MAKES THAN MISSES

The Red Flash and Mountaineers each were on the plus-side of 50 percent from the floor in Saturday's game. Mount St. Mary's shot 59.6 percent from the floor and 62.5 percent (10-for-16) from three-point range. SFU was 52.1 percent from the floor and shot 52.6 percent (10-for-19) from three-point range. 

It's the first time this season that both teams shot better than 50 percent from the field. The last time the Flash played a game that it and its opponent made more than it missed was almost a year ago to the day. St. Francis Brooklyn shot 51.1 percent to the Red Flash's 50 percent in the Terriers' buzzer-beating  60-59 victory on Jan. 18, 2015. 

It's the third third time this season that both teams each made at least 10 three pointers in a game. That has only happened twice in the previous three seasons of Red Flash basketball.

DRINNON MOVING UP REBOUNDING LIST

Senior Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview)'s 11 rebounds against Mount St. Mary's give him 658 career rebounds, enough to move him into 18th place on the school's all-time list. He's just seven rebounds behind Charlie Kates (1977-81) and eight behind Joe Anderson (1987-91) on the rebounding list. Drinnon has eight double-doubles on the season and five in a row. His eight double-doubles are 21st in the nation while also leading the Northeast Conference. He's also the conference leader in rebounds per game (9.0) and offensive rebounds per game (3.4)

ABOUT BRYANT

Bryant is currently in a three-way tie for second place in the NEC with a 4-2 record. The Bulldogs are coming off a 79-61 loss to LIU Brooklyn last Saturday in the second of four consecutive home games. Hunter Ware leads the Bulldogs with 13.8 points per game. 

Another player to watch is freshman Marcel Pettway. He's second on the team with 10.9 points per game and 7.1 points per game. Pettway is the reigning NEC Rookie of the Week, and he's won five of those awards so far this season. Nisre Zouzoua is the other Bulldog scoring in double figures, averaging 10.8 points per game. Dan Garvin is the team's leading rebounder at 7.7 boards per game.

LOOKING AHEAD

Saint Francis moves on to Central Connecticut on Saturday before playing at Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday. Bryant finishes its four-game homestand against Robert Morris on Saturday afternoon before embarking on a four-game roadtrip. During that trip, the Bulldogs come to Loretto to face the Red Flash on Feb. 4.

SERIES HISTORY

Bryant leads the series, 7-4, and the two teams split last year with the home team winning each time. SFU earned a 75-68 victory last January in the teams' last meeting.