Saint Francis Media Notes
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LORETTO, Pa. -Â The Saint Francis men's basketball team returns home for the final home weekend of the regular season when it hosts St. Francis Brooklyn on Thursday at 7 p.m. SFU then hosts LIU Brooklyn for Senior Day on Saturday.Â
It's a big weekend of basketball in Loretto and around the Northeast Conference. The Red Flash is tied with three other teams (Mount St. Mary's, Fairleigh Dickinson and Wagner) for first place in the NEC with 9-5 records.Â
Thursday's game against the Terriers is the return match from a 73-56 victory for St. Francis Brooklyn on Jan. 7. That is the sixth straight win for the Terriers in the series. The Terriers jumped out to a lead that reached as high as 16 points in the first half, but the Red Flash managed to cut the deficit to just one point on a handful of occassions. SFU never was able to take the lead, however.Â
In that game, the Terriers became the first team this season to shoot 50 percent or better from three point range against the Flash, making 12-of-24 shots from beyond the arc. That's happened just two more times to SFU since then. Freshman Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell) scored the first five points of his collegiate career in that game, and Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) didn't attempt a three pointer. That was the first time he didn't attempt one in a game since Jan. 24, 2015, at Mount St. Mary's.
NOTES FROM MOUNT ST. MARY'S
- Basil Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) tied his career high with 16 points, matching his previous total from the Flash's win against Bryant on Feb. 4.Â
- Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) had 20 rebounds for the second time in three games, tying his career high.Â
- Saint Francis shot 30 percent (18-of-60) from the floor, its worst shooting day since shooting 29 percent in a loss at Maryland on Dec. 4.
- Josh Nebo (Katy, Texas/Cypress Lakes) had two blocks to give him 41 for the season. He's just the third player in school history to reach 40 blocks in a season.
- Saint Francis fell to 4-10 in games in which it scores less than 70 points. When it scores 70 points or more, the Red Flash is 9-2.Â
- Saint Francis won or tied the rebounding battle for the 13th straight game. It has won the battle in 12 of those games and tied in rebounds with Robert Morris on Jan. 30. The last time SFU lost the rebounding margin was the NEC opener against Wagner, a 73-65 SFU victory.Â
POINTS UPDATES
Senior Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) has 942 career points. Should Millaud-Meunier reach 1,000 career points, he would be the 40th player in SFU history to do so. He also has 201 makes from beyond the arc. He's the fourth player to reach that mark. Rahsaan Benton (2001-06) is third on the list with 203.Â
Senior Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) has 873 career points. Senior Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) has 786 career points, and junior Malik Harmon (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) has 779 career points. Drinnon is averaging 15.8 points and 16.8 rebounds in his last five games.
DRINNON'S REBOUNDING AND DOUBLE-DOUBLE AVERAGES
Senior Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) had 20 rebounds at Mount St. Mary's to give him 737 for his career. He's currently in 14th place on the school's rebounding list, and Devin Sweetney is his next target in 13th place. Sweetney had 754 rebounds from 2006-10. Drinnon has 262 rebounds this season, still well outside the top-10 for a season in school history. That 10th-place spot is held by SFU assistant coach Eric Taylor. He had 321 rebounds in the 1997-98 season and finished with 967 rebounds in his career.
Drinnon is currently averaging 10.5 rebounds per game this year. Should he manage to average double figures to finish the season, he would be the first Red Flash player to do so since Taylor in that 1997-98 season. Drinnon is also averaging 12 points per game. If he manages to average a double-double at the conclusion of the season, he would be the first SFU player to do that since Taylor in 1997-98.Â
TEAM CLOSING IN ON THREE POINTERS LIST
The Red Flash has made 180 three pointers this year, and the team will likely move into the top-five for most three pointers made in a season. The 2009-10 team is fifth on the list with 203 makes, and the all-time school record is 238 set by the NEC Championship team of 1990-91.Â
NEBO ONE OF THREE WITH 40 BLOCKS IN A SEASON
Freshman center Josh Nebo (Katy, Texas/Cypress Lakes) recorded two blocks in Saturday's game at Mount St. Mary's. Nebo currently sits in third place in the SFU single-season list with 41 blocks. Melvin Scott holds the single-season record with 70 blocks in 2000-01. Nebo's next plataeu is second place and Jerry Mack with 43 blocks.
ABOUT ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN
A loss for the Terriers against crosstown-rival LIU Brooklyn on Monday dropped St. Francis Brooklyn into a tie with the Blackbirds for sixth place in the NEC with 7-7 conference records. The Terriers are still safely inside the top eight of the conference as it looks for a playoff bid, leading ninth-place Bryant by three games with just four to play.Â
The loss to the Blackbirds was the first for St. Francis on its three-game homestand. SFBK defeated Fairleigh Dickinson and Central Connecticut at the Pope Center.Â
LOOKING AHEAD
The Red Flash hosts LIU Brooklyn for Senior Day on Saturday before heading to Wagner and Sacred Heart next weekend to finish the regular season. The Terriers travel to Robert Morris on Saturday before wrapping up the regular season with home games against Bryant and Mount St. Mary's
SERIES HISTORY
The Red Flash leads the series, 38-37, but St. Francis Brooklyn has won the past six meetings. That includes a 73-56 victory over SFU on Jan. 7. The Terriers broke open a five-point halftime lead by outscoring the Red Flash, 37-25, in the second half.Â