Flash Points:

• SFU Men's Basketball meets Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday in the NEC Championship game.
• Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Knott Arena, with a broadcast on ESPN2 with Rece Davis, play-by-play, and Jim Calhoun, color, on the call.
• The game will also be on Westwood One Radio (Sirius XM channel 82) with Tom McCarthy and Donny Marshall on the broadcast.
• Saint Francis will play in the NEC Championship game for the first time since 1991, when it won the NEC Title.
• The Red Flash reached the NEC Championship after freshman Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./The Lawrenceville School)'s buzzer-beating three at Wagner in the NEC Semifinals.

Saint Francis Notes | Mount St. Mary's Notes | ESPN2/WatchESPN | Radio (Westwood One/Sirius XM Channel 84) | Live Stats | 3-Point Challenge | All-NEC Release | Altoona Mirror Feature
 
LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis Men's Basketball team is moving on to the NEC Championship after a thrilling 71-70 win at Wagner on Saturday at the Spiro Center.  The Red Flash, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, will now travel to Mount St. Mary's, the No. 1 seed, for the NEC Championship game on Tuesday.  Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. with a broadcast on ESPN2, with Rece Davis and Jim Calhoun on the call, and Westwood One Radio, with Tom McCarthy and Donny Marshall on the call.
 
The Red Flash, led by Head Coach Rob Krimmel, is 16-15 overall this season and advanced to the NEC Championship game for the first time since 1991, when SFU won the NEC Title.  Freshman Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to finish a back-and-forth final minute.
 
Mount St. Mary's, coached by Jamion Christian, voted the NEC Coach of the Year, reached the NEC Championship with a 75-66 win over Robert Morris in the NEC Semifinals on Saturday.  The Mount is 18-15 overall this season.
 
For tickets, please call 301-447-5700.
 
THE SHOT
With a defender in his face, freshman Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) 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 play appeared at No. 1 on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays on Saturday night.
 
3-POINT CHALLENGE
Saint Francis men's basketball is participating in the 2017 Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge.  Fans can support the cause by visiting here and pledging an amount of money that will be donated for each three the Red Flash makes from February 1-March 6 (nine games).  Proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society for research and awareness.  SFU is one of several programs around the country participating in the challenge, with the program who raises the most money being crowned the champion of the event.
 
NEC HONORS
Last Tuesday, 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 2.65 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 13.5 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.
 
NOTES FROM WAGNER (NEC SEMIFINALS)
- Freshman Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) hit a three at the buzzer to send SFU to the NEC Championship game. The buzzer-beater was the No. 1 play on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays on Saturday night.
- The second half featured seven ties and six lead changes. The teams combined to hit the last seven shot attempts of the game.
- SFU won its seventh NEC road game this season.
- Sophomore Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) led SFU with 20 points and six rebounds, while Braxton had 15 points and eight boards.
- Sophomore Josh Nebo (Houston, Texas/Cypress Lakes) tallied 10 points and set a new SFU single-game record with eight blocks.
- With the eight blocks, Nebo now has 141 for his career, moving into first place all-time at SFU, passing Melvin Scott (137, 1996-01). Nebo already holds the SFU season record with 82 this year.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Red Flash trails the all-time series, 45-30, against Mount St. Mary's.  The Mountaineers have won the last four meetings, including two games this season.  The Mount won 78-72 on January 14 in Emmitsburg and 81-62 in Loretto on February 11.
 
NEC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Last Wednesday, the Red Flash hosted its first NEC Tournament game under the current tournament format. SFU last hosted an NEC Tournament game in 1995-96, a play-in game against St. Francis Brooklyn.  It was SFU's first NEC Quarterfinal or later round-game since 1991, when it won the NEC Title.  SFU now improved to 3-1 under Rob Krimmel in NEC Quarterfinals.  Saturday's win at Wagner was SFU's first NEC Semifinals win under Rob Krimmel and the Red Flash will make its first appearance in the NEC Championship game since 1991.
 
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.  Nebo also raised his career block total to 141, passing Melvin Scott (137, 1996-01) for first all-time at Saint Francis.  After posting 59 blocks as a freshman, Nebo has 82 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 2.64 blocks per game and ranks eighth 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 0.3 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.
 
NEC LEADERS
Saint Francis played its entire regular season conference schedule owning the NEC's top offense, leading the league in scoring (76.1 ppg), field goal percentage (46.5), three pointers made per game (8.0) and three-point percentage (39.0).  The Red Flash offense features a balanced attack with Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) (13.6), Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./The Lawrenceville School) (13.5), Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)) (12.2) and Josh Nebo (Houston, Texas/Cypress Lakes) (12.0) all averaging double-digits in scoring.  SFU is the only NEC team with four players averaging double-figures.  Individually, Nebo tops the conference in blocks, averaging 2.64 per game, while Blackmon leads in three-point percentage at 50.0 and Braxton leads with 6.7 defensive rebounds per contest.
 
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 game 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. 
 
BALANCED ATTACK
The Red Flash has put at least four players in double figures in 20 of 31 games this season and at least three in double figures in 27 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 (13.6), Braxton (13.5), King (12.2) and Nebo (12.0) are all averaging double-figures through 31 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.
 
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.
 
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 31 games, the group has combined for 2,062 of the team's 2,349 points (87.8 percent) and 5,362 of 6,275 minutes (85.4 percent).  Against Wagner, a freshman or sophomore scored 63 of the team's 71 points and the group combined for 179 minutes.
 
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 39.0 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 63 threes, with sophomores Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) and Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)) right behind with 53 and 49, respectively.
 
ABOUT THE MOUNT
Mount St. Mary's is 18-15 overall and finished the regular season with a 14-4 mark in NEC play to enter the NEC Tournament as the No. 1 seed.  The Mount has proved that No. 1 seed with a 76-73 win over Sacred Heart in the NEC Quarterfinals and a 75-66 victory against Robert Morris in the NEC Semifinals.  The Mount is led by Jamion Christian, who was voted the NEC Coach of the Year.
 
Sophomore Elijah Long led the Mount with 22 points, five rebounds and five assists in its win over RMU.  Guard Junior Robinson added 18 points, including 8-of-8 from the free throw line, while sophomore forward Mawdo Sallah contributed 12 points and six rebounds.  Mount shot 52 percent from the floor (27-of-52) and 29 percent from three (4-of-14). 
 
Long, a First Team All-NEC selection, leads the Mount with a 15.2 scoring average to go with 5.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.  Robinson, a Second Team All-NEC honoree, is averaging 13.8 points and shoots nearly 40 percent from three.  All-Rookie Team selection Miles Wilson is scoring 11.2 points per contest.
 
NEXT TIME OUT…
The winner of the Saint Francis-Mount St. Mary's matchup will advance to the NCAA Tournament, with a seed, opponent, date and time to be determined.  Saint Francis is looking for its first NEC Title since 1991. Mount last won the NEC Tournament in 2014.