Men's Basketball 11/17/2018 12:30:00 AM

No. 20 UCLA pulls away in second half for 95-58 win

BOX SCORE Loretto, Pa. - The Saint Francis men's basketball team led No. 20 UCLA 29-28 with 2:03 to play in the first half before the Bruins closed the half on an 8-0 run. UCLA would pull away in the second half with a 59-point second half in a 95-58 victory.

Turning Point

Redshirt junior Isaiah Blackmon's (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) offensive rebound and put back gave SFU the lead but Saint Francis couldn't close out the half with the advantage after an Ali Prince three. The critical moments came in the final seconds of the half. SFU was whistled for a foul. The Bruins made the first and missed the second but Moses Brown pulled down the board and finished at the rim.

Krimmel's Reaction

"Tonight was certainly a tale of two halves," said head coach Rob Krimmel. "We wanted to start fast and we were able to do that with our half-court defense and attention to detail. In the second half, we stopped executing at the level we needed to. We had too many turnovers which allowed them to get out and run and get too many easy baskets at the rim."

First Half Summary

The Red Flash stormed out of the gates by knocking down three of their first four three-point shots to lead 11-2. Saint Francis never trailed by more than four points at any point of the half until the final seconds of the period.

Second Half Summary

SFU cut the deficit to five on two separate occasions on buckets from seniors Jamaal King (Salisbury, Md./Bishop O'Connell (Va.)) and Luidgy Laporal (Petit-Boutg, France/Harcum C.C.) before the Bruins began to distance themselves. A corner three from King made it 48-37 with 15:57 before a 14-0 run put the game to rest.

Inside the Box Score

SFU shot a season-low 30.6% from the field (22-72).
The Red Flash held UCLA to 15-39 (38.5%) from the field in the first half before the Bruins exploded to make 25-31 shots in the second half (80.6%) to finish 40-70 (57.1%) for the game.
After making three of its four three-pointers, SFU went just 3-for-18 from behind the arc the rest of the way to finish 6-of-22 (27.3%).
UCLA made 7-of-19 from three (36.8%).
Saint Francis and UCLA both made 8-of-16 free throws (50.0%).
SFU committed 15 turnovers to eight for UCLA. Points off turnovers were 23-5 in UCLA's favor and fast break points were 20-0.
UCLA scored 60 points in the paint to 26 for SFU. Second chance points were 20-11 for UCLA.

Notes

Saint Francis led for 9:59 of the 40 minutes.
Laporal finished with a career-best eight points on 4-of-8 from the field.
Junior Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./Delsea) recorded seven points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
Redshirt junior Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) added nine points and seven rebounds.
King netted nine points while freshman Myles Thompson (Camden, N.J./Camden) and senior Andre Wolford (North Olmstead, Ohio/Saint Ignatius) added seven.
SFU didn't put a single scorer in double figures for the first time since the 2015-16 season.