Flash Points:

• SFU Men's Basketball meets Jacksonville in the First Round of the CollegeInsiders.com Tournament on Tuesday.
• The Red Flash and Dolphins are playing in the Hugh Durham Classic, named after Jacksonville's former head coach.
• Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Historic Swisher Gym, with a Facebook Live broadcast on the CIT's Facebook Page.
• SFU is making its second CIT appearance and sixth postseason appearance in program history.
• The Red Flash is coming off a run to the NEC Championship game, where it fell 71-61 at Mount St. Mary's/

SFU Notes | JU Notes | Facebook Live | Radio | Live Stats | CollegeInsider.com | All-NEC Release | Altoona Mirror Feature
 
LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis Men's Basketball team meets Jacksonville in the First Round of the CollegeInsiders.com Tournament on Tuesday.  The Hugh Durham Classic, named after Jacksonville's former head coach, is set to tipoff at 7 p.m. at Historic Swisher Gym.  The game will be broadcast on Facebook Live, with Scott Manze on play-by-play and former ABA/NBA player Artis Gilmore as color analyst.
 
The Red Flash, led by Head Coach Rob Krimmel, is 16-16 overall this season after falling 71-61 to Mount St. Mary's in the NEC Championship game.  SFU is making its second appearance in the CIT after hosting Bowling Green in 2015.  Saint Francis is making its sixth overall postseason tournament appearance.
 
The Dolphins, coached by Tony Jasick, has a 17-15 overall record.  Jacksonville was the No. 6 seed in the Atlantic Sun Tournament, but fell 77-74 at No. 3 seed North Florida in the ASUN Quarterfinals.  Jacksonville is hosting its first ever postseason game.
 
NEC TOURNAMENT RECAP
The Red Flash made an incredible run to last Tuesday's NEC Championship game.  SFU hosted Bryant in the NEC Quarterfinals, SFU's first time hosting an NEC Tournament game under the current tournament format, which began in 2002.  It was SFU's first time hosting a Quarterfinal or Later round game since the NEC Championship game in 1991.  SFU earned a 100-78 win over the Bulldogs.  The Red Flash moved on to the NEC Semifinals, where it met Wagner at the Spiro Center.  Freshman Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) hit a buzzer-beating three from the wing to send SFU to the NEC Championship with a 71-70 win.  Braxton's shot was the No. 1 play on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays.  With a defender in his face, Braxton threw up a three with 2.1 seconds left.  The ball rolled around the rim and dropped in just as time expired.  The shot will go down as one of the biggest in Saint Francis basketball history.  The highlight immediately swept across social media, being shown on ESPN, the NCAA March Madness and Sports Illustrated Twitter accounts, among others.  The Red Flash then fell 71-61 at Mount St. Mary's in the NEC Championship game.
 
SIXTH POSTSEASON APPEARANCE
Saint Francis is making its second appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, also playing in 2015 when it hosted Bowling Green in a First Round matchup.  This is SFU's sixth overall postseason tournament appearance.  The Red Flash played in the NCAA Tournament in 1991 and the NIT three times (1954, 1955, 1958 to go with its two CIT appearances.

NOTES FROM MOUNT ST. MARY'S (NEC CHAMPIONSHIP)
- The Red Flash made its second appearance in the NEC Championship game in program history, also making it in 1991, when it won the NEC Title.
- Sophomore Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) led SFU with 17 points and nine rebounds.  Blackmon hit three triples.
- Sophomore Josh Nebo (Houston, Texas/Cypress Lakes) recorded his seventh double-double this season with 12 points, on five-of-nine shooting, and 11 rebounds to go with three blocks.
- SFU closed the first half with a 22-4 run, but Mount answered with a 26-4 run to open the second half.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Red Flash meets Jacksonville for the second time in program history.  SFU fell 61-52 at Jacksonville on January 2, 1980.  SFU is 1-6 vs. current Atlantic Sun teams, with a 1-1 mark vs. Stetson and an 0-4 record vs. NJIT.
 
NEC HONORS
On February 28, the NEC All-Conference teams and major awards were announced.  Sophomore Josh Nebo (Houston, Texas/Cypress Lakes) was named the NEC Defensive Player of the Year.  Nebo leads the conference with 2.66 blocks per game.  Freshman Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) was selected NEC Rookie of the Year after finishing the regular season just one NEC Rookie of the Week award shy of tying the conference record.  Braxton is averaging 13.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  Braxton was also named Second Team All-NEC while Nebo was selected Third Team.  Sophomore Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) joined Nebo on the third team.  Blackmon is averaging 13.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
 
NEC LEADERS
Saint Francis played its entire regular season conference schedule owning the NEC's top offense, leading the league in scoring (75.6 ppg), field goal percentage (46.4), three pointers made per game (8.0) and three-point percentage (38.8).  Individually, Nebo tops the conference in blocks, averaging 2.66 per game, while Blackmon leads in three-point percentage at 50.0 and Braxton leads with 6.7 defensive rebounds per contest.
 
NEBO SETS CAREER BLOCKS RECORD
Sophomore Josh Nebo (Houston, Texas/Cypress Lakes) was named NEC Defensive Player of the Year and backed up that accolade with an incredible performance against Wagner.  Nebo swatted away a career-high eight shots, breaking the SFU game record of 7 blocks.  He then added three more blocks against Mount St. Mary's.  Nebo raised his career block total to 144, recently passing Melvin Scott (137, 1996-01) for first all-time at Saint Francis.  After posting 59 blocks as a freshman, Nebo has 85 this year, an SFU season record, previously held by Scott (70, 2000-01).  Nebo has six games with five or more blocks this year.  Nebo leads NEC with 2.66 blocks per game and ranks 11th in the nation in total blocks and 10th in blocks per game.
 
ACTION BRAXTON
Braxton's impressive freshman campaign was rewarded with his NEC Rookie of the Year award.  He has posted double-digit scoring efforts in 22 games this season and has 17 games with eight or more rebounds.  Braxton has posted nine double-doubles, the fourth-most of any Division I freshmen.  He leads all NCAA freshmen in rebounds per game (8.8), leading by 0.4 rebounds per game. Braxton averages 1.7 more rebounds per game than any other freshman guard in Division I.  The SFU freshman averages 6.7 defensive rebounds per game, the third-most among any Division I guard.
 
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Twelve of the seventeen players on the Saint Francis roster are freshman or sophomore eligibility.  Of the 16 players who have appeared a game this year, 12 are freshmen or sophomores.  Through 32 games, the group has combined for 2,113 of the team's 2,420 points (87.3 percent) and 5,544 of 6,475 minutes (85.6 percent).  Against Mount, a freshman or sophomore scored 51 of the team's 61 points and the group combined for 182 minutes.
 
SFU SETS PROGRAM NEC ROAD WINS RECORD
Saint Francis won its sixth NEC road game of the season on February 16 at CCSU.  The 2016-17 team is the first ever in program-history to win six NEC road games in a season since joining the conference in 1981-82.  This year's team passed the five NEC road win campaigns of the 1990-91, 1993-94 and 1997-98 squads.  SFU added another conference road win in its 71-70 win at Wagner in the NEC Semifinals.
 
KRIMMEL TIED FOR SEVENTH ON WINS LIST
Saint Francis Head Coach Rob Krimmel picked up his 60th career win on Saturday in SFU's 71-70 victory at Wagner.  He is now tied with Dave Magarity (1978-83) for sixth at SFU.
 
BALANCED ATTACK
The Red Flash has put at least four players in double figures in 21 of 32 games this season and at least three in double figures in 28 games.  SFU placed five players in double-figures against Bryant, marking the sixth time this season it has accomplished that.  SFU had five in double figures in the opener at Saint Bonaventure, while also placing six in double figures against Chatham and five against CCSU, Robert Morris and Sacred Heart(2x).
 
Blackmon (13.8), Braxton (13.3), King (12.2) and Nebo (12.0) are all averaging double-figures through 32 games.
 
Of the 133 Division I teams averaging at least 75 points per game, Saint Francis is one of 16 teams with four players averaging at least 12 points per game.
 
BOMBS AWAY
Saint Francis hit 11 threes against Wagner on Saturday, the eighth time this season hitting 10 or more threes.  SFU hit 10 against Bryant, Duquesne, Marquette, Sacred Heart(2x) and Wagner, 11 against Wagner and 19 vs. Chatham.  SFU has hit 8 or more threes in 15 games.  The Red Flash is currently leading the NEC with a 38.8 three-point percentage and 8.0 threes per game.  SFU hit 50 percent of its three attempts in both of its meetings vs. Robert Morris despite the Colonials entering the games ranked among the top four three-point defenses in the nation.
 
Senior Georgios Angelou (Halkida, Greece/Lykeio Kanithou) leads the team with 65 threes, with sophomores Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) and Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)) right behind with 56 and 50, respectively.
 
ABOUT THE DOLPHINS
The Dolphins are 17-15 overall and went 5-9 in the Atlantic Sun this season.  They were the No. 6 seed in the ASUN Tournament, but fell 77-74 at No. 3 seed North Florida in the ASUN Quarterfinals.
 
Senior forward Marcel White led the Dolphins with 26 points, including 8-of-13 shooting and six threes, with three rebounds and two blocks.  Senior forward J.R. Holder added 16 points and six boards, while senior guard Darien Fernandez contributed 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.  Jacksonville shot 46 percent from the floor and 43 percent from three.
 
The Dolphins led the ASUN in Free-Throw Percentage (73.1) and steals per game (8.1).  They also rank fifth in Division I in three-point percentage (40.7) and 12th in threes made per game (10.0).  Holder leads JU with a 17.7 scoring average, while White is averaging 15.1 points per contest.  Fernandez is averaging 13.3 points and ranks eighth in the nation in steals per game (2.41). 
 
NEXT TIME OUT…
The winner of the Saint Francis-Jacksonville matchup will advance to the Second Round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, with the opponent, date, time and location to be determined.