Flash Points:
- SFU men's basketball earned an 69-62 victory against American on Saturday.
- Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)) led the Flash with 20 points and eight rebounds.
- The Flash used a 15-2 run in the first half to take control of the game.
- Saint Francis won its third straight game, and improved to 3-2 on the season.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite being outscored 39-29 in the second half, the Saint Francis men's basketball team held on for a 69-62 victory against American University on Saturday afternoon at Bender Arena. Saint Francis won its third straight game, and improved to 3-2 on the year, while American dropped to 0-5.
Saint Francis was led by sophomore guard
Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)), who recorded 20 points – one off his career high- on 7-of-13 shooting, and eight rebounds to go along with three assists. Freshman
Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) went 8-of-10 from the charity stripe and 3-of-7 from the field for a total of 14 points, and added a team-high 15 rebounds. Sophomore
Josh Nebo (Houston, Texas/Cypress Lakes) hit 7-of-8 shots for 15 points, seven boards and two blocks.
The Red Flash hit 23-of-56 shots for 41 percent, including seven three's. SFU also out-rebounded the Eagles 45-33, holding American to just three offensive rebounds.
American shot 41 percent (22-of-54), including 23 percent from beyond the arc. Sa'eed Nelson had 24 points, including going 7-of-10 from the free-throw line, and Mark Gasperini added 16 points, with two three's, and six rebounds. Nelson and Gasperini accounted for 40 of American's 62 points.
Both teams started cold from the field, going a combined 0-for-9 in the opening three minutes of the game. King ended the stalemate by hitting a three to give SFU an early 3-0 edge. Saint Francis and American would continue to trade points in the early going. With the score tied at 10-10 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the half, an
Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) jump shot sparked a 15-2 run to give SFU a 25-12 lead. King led the Flash with five points during the run.
The Eagles would cut the deficit to single-digits at 32-23 after a Nelson three-pointer, but Saint Francis scored seven-straight points, including a three by
Scott Meredith (Pilot Mountain, N.C./Hargrave Military Academy (Va.)) before the buzzer, to give SFU a commanding 40-23 lead heading into the half.
SFU shot 47 percent in the half, including going 7-of-11 from three. King led SFU with 16 points at the half, making 6-of-7 from the field, and added six rebounds and two assists. Nebo contributed with seven points and two rebounds, while Blackmon recorded six.
Saint Francis' largest lead of the game came with 18 minutes remaining in the game. American started to chipped away and cut the SFU lead to nine, 47-38. The Eagles took advantage by holding the Red Flash off the scoreboard for nearly four minutes by closing the gap to seven at 47-40.
A layup by King pushed the SFU lead back to double-digits at 51-41, but the Eagles would continue to fight. A three-pointer by Jalen Rhea with 8:12 to go would pull American within five at 53-45. With 6:07 left in the game, a three by American's Gasperini would give the Eagles their closest deficit of the second half at 55-51.
A jumper by
Randall Gaskins, Jr. (Woodbridge, Va./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)), a layup from Braxton and a dunk from Nebo helped SFU get back to a 10-point lead, 61-51, with 4:44 left to play. The Eagles would not go out quietly, making it a two possession game at 66-60. Three SFU free throws down the stretch clinched the game.
Saint Francis returns to action next Wednesday at NJIT at 7 p.m.
