Flash Points:

• The Saint Francis men's basketball team opens the season at St. Bonaventure on Saturday.
• Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Reilly Center.
• The game will be broadcast on the Atlantic-10 Digital Network.

SFU Game Notes | St. Bonaventure Game Notes | A-10 Network($) | Live Stats
 
LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis men's basketball team begins the 2016-17 season on Saturday at St. Bonaventure.  The Red Flash and the Bonnies are set for a 4 p.m. tipoff at the Reilly Center.  The game is being broadcast on the Atlantic 10 Digital Network.
 
Head Coach Rob Krimmel enters his fifth year as the head coach of the Red Flash.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Saint Francis will meet Saint Bonaventure for the 43rd contest between the schools.  The Bonnies lead the all-time series, 30-12.  This is the first meeting since 2011-12 and the third straight on the road for SFU.
 
The Red Flash's last win in the series came in 2006-07 in Loretto.  SFU last won at St. Bonaventure on January 12, 1980 in a 74-61 victory.
 
TEAM CAPTAINS
Senior guard Georgios Angelou (Halkida, Greece/Lykeio Kanithou), sophomore guard Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)) and sophomore forward Josh Nebo (Houston, Texas/Cypress Lakes) were selected as team captains for the 2016-17 season.
 
Angelou is one of three seniors on the roster and will move into a bigger role this season after being a key contributor off the bench last season.  He led SFU with a 47.4 three-point percentage, while averaging 3.6 points and a rebound per game in 2015-16.
 
King will look to provide leadership at the point guard position.  After joining the team in Mid-December last year, King played in 17 games, including a start at Mount St. Mary's.  He averaged nine minutes per game and totaled 35 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals.
 
Nebo started 29 games last year and made a big impact, especially on the boards and at the rim.  He recorded 59 blocks, the second-most in a season at SFU, and already ranks ninth on the career blocks list at SFU.  Nebo was second in the NEC, averaging 1.87 blocks per game.  He averaged 4.9 points and 5.1 rebounds, while totaling six double-digit scoring performances and three games with double-digit rebounds.  He also had 10 games with three or more blocks.
 
NEWCOMERS
The Red Flash welcomes five new players to the roster in 2016-17.  Freshmen guards Randall Gaskins Jr. and Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) and freshman forward Deivydas Kuzavas (Kretinga, Lithuania/St. Mary's Ryken (Md.)) join juniors Deon Baker (Pittsburgh,Pa/Gateway) and Tre McKeithen (Pittsburgh, PA/Taylor Allderdice) as the newcomers for SFU.
 
Gaskins, Jr. played at Bishop O'Connell high school in Virginia, where he was teammates with Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)).  Gaskins averaged over 10 points per game his senior year.
 
Braxton was a First Team All-New Jersey selection in his final year of prep ball, playing at The Lawrenceville School, where he averaged 18 points per game.
 
Kuzavas was a WCAC Honorable Mention selection as a senior at St. Mary's Ryken in Maryland.
 
Baker comes to Loretto after two years at the Community College of Beaver County, where he averaged 10.5 points per game, while McKeithen joins the team after serving as a manager last season.
 
YOUNG TEAM
Eleven of the eighteen players on the Saint Francis roster are freshman or sophomore eligibility. 
 
Among the young players is sophomore guard Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte), who averaged 9.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game as a freshman.  He shot 54 percent from the field and 40 percent from three.  He averaged 11.1 points in three starts in conference play before missing the final eight games due to injury.
 
SFU SIGNS VALLIEN
Saint Francis signed guard Markus Vallien to a letter of intent on Thursday.  The Houston, Texas native will join the team in Fall 2017.
 
The 5-foot-10 Vallien attends St. Pius X High School, which he has helped to a 5-0 start this season.  In three games played, Vallien is averaging 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists per game. 
 
Vallien played at Lamar High School last season, where he averaged 18.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.1 steals per game, while leading the Texans to a 25-10 record.
 
ABOUT THE BONNIES
St. Bonaventure went 22-9 overall last season, including 14-4 in the Atlantic 10 to claim the regular season title.  The Bonnies earned an automatic bid to the NIT, where they were upset by NEC regular season champion Wagner.  St. Bonaventure was picked fifth in the preseason Atlantic 10 Coaches Poll, its highest selection since the 2011-12 season.
 
Mark Schmidt enters his 10th year leading St. Bonaventure and owns a 146-132 record there.
 
Junior guard Jaylen Adams was named a Preseason All-Atlantic 10 selection after averaging 17.9 points per game last season as well as five assists and 3.7 rebounds per contest in 30 starts.  He was a First Team All-A-10 honoree last season.
 
St. Bonaventure graduated two of its top three scorers from last year, guard Marcus Posley and forward Dion Wright, but return forward Denzel Gregg, who averaged 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last year.  The frontcourt adds Chinonso Obokoh, a graduate transfer from Syracuse.