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Loretto, Pa. – The Saint Francis men's basketball team (1-2) hosts American (1-2) on Saturday, Nov. 16, in its home opener at 7 p.m. Come support the Red Flash and our local Veterans as it is also Military Appreciation night.
 
Scouting American
 
American returned three of its five starters led by First Team All-Conference guard Sa'eed Nelson. The Eagles have opened the season 1-2, notching their first win of the season last time out over George Washington thanks to a Nelson buzzer beater. The senior guard is averaging 21.0 ppg after recording 19.8 ppg last season Jamir Harris and Jacob Boonyasith are second on the team in scoring at 13.7 ppg. The Eagles beat Saint Francis 95-82 last season behind a career-high 33 points from Sam Iorio. The Red Flash won't have to contend with Iorio as he opted to transfer in the offseason.
 
 Thompson Tough Inside
 
Sophomore Myles Thompson (Camden, N.J./Camden) has crashed the glass hard over the first three games of the season, notching at least seven rebounds in all three contests. By comparison, he grabbed seven or more rebounds in just 3 three of 33 games as a freshman. Thompson has done a lot of the dirty work on the offensive end with seven offensive rebounds. As a team, the Red Flash rank second in the NEC in offensive rebounding at 14.0 per contest.
 
BIG Bench
 
Saint Francis post players Deivydas Kuzavas (Kretinga, Lithuania/St. Mary's Ryken (Md.)) and Mark Flagg (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury) provided critical minutes off the bench in Wednesday's win over Morgan State. Kuzavas recorded six points and six rebounds in 15 minutes of action while Flagg chipped in with four points and two rebounds in just seven minutes. The Saint Francis bench netted a combined 18 points and has outscored its opponents bench in two of three games. Senior Scott Meredith (Pilot Mountain, N.C./Hargrave Military Academy (Va.)) leads all bench players, averaging 10.3 ppg on 8-of-13 (61.5%) made three-point field goals.
 
Defense Holds the Key
 
SFU's offense gets a lot of attention but its defense is what ignites its success. The Red Flash were 11-1 last season when holding opponents under 70 points and improved to 1-0 in 2019-20 by holding Morgan State to just 65 points on 38.6% shooting from the field and 15.4% from behind the arc.
 
Success in Home Openers
 
Saint Francis has won its last six home openers dating back to an 85-76 loss to Colgate in the 2012-13 opener, head coach Rob Krimmel's first game as a head coach in DeGol Arena. Saint Francis recorded 12 home wins in 2018-19, its second-highest total in program history and the highest since 1990-91. SFU is 23-7 at home over its last two seasons.