Saint Francis Media Notes
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LORETTO, Pa. - The Saint Francis men's basketball team heads into the Northeast Conference Tournament on Wednesday with a quarterfinal matchup at Fairleigh Dickinson. The Red Flash enters as the seventh seed, and the Knights are the second seed. Tip is set for 7 p.m. and will be shown live on NEC Front Row. 

Saint Francis qualified for the tournament for the third straight year for the first time since 2002-03 through 2004-05. Its also the third straight year that SFU will open on the road. The Flash has won its road quarterfinal games in each of the past two seasons. Saint Francis has played 15 straight NEC Tournament games away from home. Its last home game came in a 95-76 win over St. Francis Brooklyn in an NEC Tournament preliminary game in 1994-95.

Saint Francis is 1-2 all-time against Fairleigh Dickinson in NEC Tournament play. The teams played three straight years from 1989-91. In the third of those years, SFU beat FDU to win the NEC Tournament.

Head coach Rob Krimmel is looking to become the first Saint Francis coach to advance to three NEC Tournament semifinals. This is his 11th NEC Tournament as a player or coach.

NOTES FROM SACRED HEART

• Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) earned his 17th double-double of the season with 17 points and 18 rebounds.
• Drinnon passed Norm Van Lier for 12th place on the career rebounding list.
• SFU's 11 made three pointers moved the team into fifth place on the school's all-time list for three pointers in a season. This year's team has 213. The 1990-91 team has the record with 238 makes.
• Patrick Wrencher (West Chester, Ohio/Archbishop Moeller) scored a season-high six points in 20 minutes off the bench.
• Saint Francis shot its first free throws of the game with 6:21 left in the second half.

TWO SENIORS NEARING 1,000 POINTS

As the season winds down, the Red Flash has two players looking to crack into the 1,000-point club. Seniors Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) and Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) each have a chance to reach the mark with an extended playoff run. Millaud-Meunier could actually reach the mark in Wednesday's game. He's 21 points shy, sitting with 979. Drinnon has 950 points. Saint Francis has 39 players in its history that have reached 1,000 career points. Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) was the last. He reached the mark in Dec. 2014 in a win at Rutgers and finished his career with 1,373 points, good for 11th in SFU history.

DRINNON NAMED FIRST TEAM ALL-NEC

Saint Francis senior forward Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) was named All-NEC First Team, announced Tuesday morning by the conference. Drinnon leads the league rebounding with 10.6 rebounds per game and is also first in the league in double-doubles with 17. He is the second consecutive SFU player to be named All-NEC First Team, following Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter)'s selection last season. 

Drinnon leads the NEC and is 14th in the country in rebounds per game, averaging 10.6 per game. He also leads the league and is 11th in the country in double-doubles with 17. Drinnon is also tops in the Northeast Conference in total rebounds (307) and defensive rebounds per game (6.97). He's second in the league in offensive rebounds per game (3.62). 

For his career, Drinnon has 782 rebounds after passing Norm Van Lier in Saturday's game at Sacred Heart. He now sits in 12th place, just 10 rebounds behind Brown for 11th place. Should he reach 800 rebounds, Drinnon would be just the 10th player in school history to hit that mark. Drinnon is also averaging 13.0 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. Should he maintain that, he would be the first SFU player to average a double-double since Eric Taylor in 1997-1998. Saint Francis has back-to-back selections to the All-NEC First Team for the first time since Taylor was selected in 1997 and 1998.

SAINT FRANCIS NEC TOURNAMENT PLAYER NOTES

• Saint Francis has four players (Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding), Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview), Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) and Malik Harmon (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King)) who will play in their fifth NEC Tournament game on Wednesday. Basil Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter) will play in his third. No other player on the roster has appeared in a tournament game.
• Before breaking both marks this season, Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview)'s career highs in points (20) and rebounds (18) came in the Red Flash's NEC Tournament quarterfinal win at Bryant in 2014.
• Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding)'s career-high 24 points came in Saint Francis' NEC Tournament quarterfinal win at Mount St. Mary's in 2015.
• Earl Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter)'s selection to the NEC All-Tournament Team in 2015 was SFU's first selection since Mike Iuzzolino in 1991. Iuzzolino is the school's only NEC Tournament MVP, also winning that in 1991.

QUOTING KRIMMEL
On FDU...
"FDU has had a great year. Greg Herenda and his staff have done a great job with their group. They're young and talented. The second game we played was one of the most exciting games we played this year. They have several talented offensive players that can score the ball in a variety of ways."
 
On the Red Flash's regular season...
"The goal with any season is to reach the NCAA Tournament. You can't do that without first reaching the conference tournament. We allowed ourselves to do that with a fast start in NEC play. I'm confident that our senior leadership will have us ready to go as we prepare for what amounts to a new season."

ABOUT FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON

After being selected ninth in the Preseason NEC Coaches Poll, the Knights turned the ranking on its head with a second-place finish in the conference. Fairleigh Dickinson finished with an 11-7 record in conference play. The Knights pulled out of a three-game losing streak by winning their final two regular season games at Mount St. Mary's and at Central Connecticut. 

Fairleigh Dickinson had several players honored on All-NEC teams. Freshman Mike Holloway was named to the All-Rookie Team. He is averaging 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 60.9 percent from the field. The Knight also had two players on the All-NEC Second Team. Darian Anderson scores 14.8 points per game and averages 3.6 assists per game. Earl Potts, Jr., averages 14.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He was also named the NEC Most Improved Player after scoring 6.6 points per game last season.

LOOKING AHEAD

The winner will face a team to be determined in the NEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday.

SERIES HISTORY

Saint Francis leads the series history, 45-41, but the Knights have won both games this year. The teams played one of the most exciting games of the NEC season on Jan. 28 in an 86-82 FDU win in overtime. Saint Francis overcame an 18-point first half deficit to take a lead in the second half before the game went to overtime.