Saint Francis Media Notes
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LORETTO, Pa. - The Saint Francis men's basketball team continues the opening weekend of Northeast Conference play with another home game late Monday afternoon when the Red Flash hosts Sacred Heart at 5 p.m. The game is the opener of a doubleheader with the SFU and SHU women playing after the men's game. 

Saint Francis and Sacred Heart each won their respective conference openers. The Red Flash defeated Wagner, 73-65, while Sacred Heart won at Robert Morris, 69-65. The win for the Red Flash was the sixth victory in the team's past seven NEC home openers. Five players scored in double figures for Saint Francis, led by Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding)'s 19 points. He was joined by Basil Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) (14), Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) (12), Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) (12) and Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) (10). 

NOTES FROM WAGNER

• The Flash finished the first half shooting 50 percent (12-of-24) to Wagner's 32.1 percent. SFU matched that by shooting 50 percent (14-of-28) again in the second half. That gave the Flash its first game of shooting at least 50 percent in each half since its win over Bryant on Jan. 29 of last season. 
• It's also SFU's first game of shooting 50 percent overall since its win over Mount St. Mary's in the NEC Tournament quarterfinals last year.
• Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview)'s two three pointers are a season high and tie his career high that he set at Dayton in Nov. 2013.
• SFU held Wagner to just 19 percent (4-for-21) from three-point range. It's the second time in three games that the Red Flash's NEC-leading three-point defense held an opponent to less than 20 percent from beyond the arc.
• Basil Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter)'s 14 points were just one shy of tying his career high. 
• The win is the sixth in the Flash's past seven NEC home openers. 

FLASH LOOKING FOR 2-0 NEC START

A win over Sacred Heart on Monday night would give the Flash its second consecutive 2-0 start in conference play. Last season, the Flash opened with home victories over Wagner and Robert Morris. It would be the first time since the team joined the NEC in 1988-89 that the team has back-to-back 2-0 starts in conference play. A win would also give the Flash its seventh 2-0 start in NEC play since joining the conference in 1988-89.

JANUARY IMPROVEMENTS

The Red Flash has seen marked improvements in January in head coach Rob Krimmel's tenure as head coach. Saint Francis was 1-8 in his first season of 2012-13, improved to 3-5 in 2013-14 and finished the month 6-4 last season. Corresponding with the first month of NEC play, the team's conference record has improved every year, as well. The Flash has went 5-13, 7-9 and 9-9 in his three years as the head coach. 

KING SEES FIRST ACTION

Freshman Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell) saw his first action for the Red Flash after joining the team in mid-December. King played six minutes for the Red Flash against Wagner, recording an assist.

SUB-20 PERCENT FROM THREE POINT RANGE

Saint Francis held Wagner to just 19 percent (4-for-21) from three-point range in Saturday's win. That gives the Red Flash defense two games in its past three that it held an opponent to sub-20 percent three-point shooting. Albany shot just 18.2 percent (2-for-11) in the teams' game in mid-December. 

DRINNON DRAINS THE THREE

Senior Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) has done some great things for the Red Flash in his three-plus seasons with the team, but he did something for just the second time in Saturday's win over Wagner: hit multiple three pointers in a game. Drinnon went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc as he scored 12 points in the victory. Drinnon's other multi-three performance came at Dayton  in November 2013. 

ABOUT SACRED HEART

After struggling to a 1-10 record in non-conference play, the Sacred Heart Pioneers earned a big road victory in its NEC opener at Robert Morris, 69-65. The win snapped a 10-game losing streak for Sacred Heart after it won its season opener against Quinnipiac, 76-64. 

Sophomore guard Cane Broome scored 27 points in that season-opening win against Quinnipiac on his way to NEC Player of the Week honors, but he topped 30 points for the second time this season in the Pioneers' win at Robert Morris. Broome scored 33 points while playing all 40 minutes. He's scored in double figures in every game so far this season except for one and is averaging 21 points per game. 

Broome is one of three players averaging in double figures. Jordan Allen is second on the team at 11.7 ppg, and Quincy McKnight is just behind at 11.6 ppg. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Sacred Heart returns home for its first home games in NEC play against Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday and Wagner on Saturday. The Flash and Pioneers play at Sacred Heart in the final regular season game for both teams on Feb. 27.

SERIES HISTORY

Saint Francis holds a one-game lead in the series, 13-12. SFU is also on a four-game winning streak over the Pioneers. The Red Flash beat Sacred Heart twice in six days last season, and the second of those was SFU's exciting 79-78 victory on an Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) buzzer beater that garnered national attention on the Sportscenter Top 10.