SMITHFIELD, R.I. – When the Bryant Bulldogs went on a 15-0 run late in the first half of its game with the Saint Francis men's basketball team to take a game-high 19-point lead on Thursday night, it looked as though that would be the defining stretch of the game. But games aren't won or lost in the first half, and the Red Flash took that theory to heart as it erased the deficit on its way to an exciting 71-65 victory over the Bulldogs. Saint Francis outscored Bryant, 43-20, in the second half.

When Saint Francis hit the locker room trailing, 45-28, the Flash were being outshot 59.3 percent to 31 percent. Coming into the game, the Flash was also 0-9 this season when trailing at halftime. That script flipped directly on its head in the second half. Saint Francis shot 61.5 percent from the floor in the second half, including 6-for-10 from three-point range. Bryant shot just 30.4 percent from the floor and 0-for-8 from three-point range in the second.

The sweeping tide of momentum in SFU's favor started at the beginning of the second half. After holding the Flash to no points for more than four minutes at the tail end of the first half, Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) fueled a fast start with three pointers on the team's first two second-half possessions. He finished with 12 points on four makes from beyond the arc.

Freshmen Josh Nebo (Katy, Texas/Cypress Lakes) and Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) helped the Flash trim the deficit back to single digits midway through the half. Nebo hit a jumper and added a dunk to cut the lead to 53-41 with 13:17 left. After a Bryant score, Blackmon hit back-to-back three pointers from each corner to make it 55-47 with 11:44 remaining. Nebo finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. He also blocked two shots. Blackmon nearly outscored Bryant on his own in the second half, scoring 16 of his game-high 19 points after the break. Bryant had 20 in the second half. Blackmon was 8-for-10 from the floor for the game.

Saint Francis again paired two three pointers to slash the deficit further. Georgios Angelou (Halkida, Greece/Lykeio Kanithou) hit from the corner, and Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) hit from the top of the key a few possessions later to make it 59-55 with 9:32 to play. Drinnon finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Two Bryant free throws made it 61-55 with 9:15 left. That's when SFU made its move.

Blackmon and Nebo scored all 10 points of a 10-0 SFU run that lasted for nearly seven minutes. Blackmon's layup with 6:45 left tied the score at 61, and both teams went scoreless for more than three minutes. The Flash was able to break through first and score the next four points to take its first lead since it was 2-0. Marcel Pettway's layup with 2:32 to play made it 65-63 Saint Francis, and it was Bryant's first score in eight possessions.

Blackmon, Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) and Malik Harmon (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) all scored in the final two minutes to seal the win as Bryant couldn't again tie the score. The win is the first for the Red Flash when trailing at halftime since coming back to beat Rutgers in Dec. 2014. It's also the Flash's first win when trailing by 10-plus points since the win over the Scarlet Knights.

With the win, SFU avoided its first three-game losing streak since last January and won back-to-back road games for the first time since beating Duquesne and Rutgers last season.

The Red Flash next travels to Central Connecticut on Saturday at 3:30.