BROOKLYN – The Saint Francis men's basketball team used a 14-0 run in the second half and coolly held off a late run from LIU Brooklyn to defeat the Blackbirds, 72-65, Saturday afternoon at the Steinberg Wellness Center.

The Red Flash (7-8, 3-1 NEC) shot 45.2 percent in the first half as it took a 32-30 lead into the intermission. LIU Brooklyn (7-8, 1-3 NEC) retook the lead, 33-32, with 18:40 to play on a Joel Hernandez three pointer.

Those were the Blackbirds' final points for more than four-and-a-half minutes. Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) followed that three pointer with one of his own to give the Flash a 35-33 lead. After an Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) layup, Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) scored in the paint on consecutive possessions to stretch the lead to 41-33. Out of a timeout, Blackmon found Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) for a three pointer to push the lead to double figures, 44-33. Basil Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) finished the run with two makes at the stripe to stake the Flash to a 46-33 lead with 14:14 to play.

Drinnon notched his third double-double in a row with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Millaud-Meunier (13), Brown (14), Blackmon (12) and Thompson (11) joined Drinnon in double figures. In the Flash's three Northeast Conference wins this season, all five of those players have reached double-digit points.

The next six minutes belonged to LIU Brooklyn. Hernandez's jumper with 8:14 to play pulled LIU back to within two points, 51-49. Georgios Angelou (Halkida, Greece/Lykeio Kanithou) answered with a three pointer to push the lead back to five points, but back-to-back buckets for the Blackbirds trimmed the lead to a single point, 54-53, with 5:48 to play.

On Thursday night, the Red Flash fought back from a double-digit deficit to pull to within a point of St. Francis Brooklyn without ever taking the lead. On Saturday, SFU returned the favor to the Terriers' borough neighbors. Saint Francis made all 12 of its free throws in the last 5:17 to ice the win. Thompson made four of those free throws and scored six total points early on in that stretch as he finished with 11 points and nine rebounds. He also had three assists and two steals.

A jumper by Jerome Frink had the lead cut back to two points, 64-62, with 46 seconds left. Brown calmly sank two free throws on the next possession to push it back to a two-possession game, and Blackmon made four free throws and Millaud-Meunier made two more in the final 30 seconds to clinch the victory.

Josh Nebo (Katy, Texas/Cypress Lakes) scored six of his seven points in the first four minutes of the game to give the Flash an early advantage. He also had a block in the first half that led directly to a Millaud-Meunier three in transition.

Saint Francis is now one of five teams with 3-1 records in the NEC. Two of those other 3-1 teams visit Loretto next week. SFU hosts Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday before hosting Mount St. Mary's on Saturday.