Loretto, Pa. - The Saint Francis men's basketball team (13-8, 6-4 NEC) appeared headed for a fourth consecutive conference defeat on Thursday night before rallying for the largest comeback in school and Northeast Conference history. Trailing 59-38, the Red Flash outscored the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils (2-21, 1-9 NEC) 46-18 over the game's final 16 minutes to move to 6-4 in NEC action with an 84-77 victory.

Juniors Mark Flagg (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury) and Ramiir Dixon-Conover (Newark, N.J./South Kent), both inserted into the starting lineup before the game, ignited the comeback. Flagg finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Dixon-Conover scored a career-high 18 points on 7-7 shooting and 4-4 from behind the arc. Redshirt senior Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) added his second double-double of the season and the fourth of his career with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Krimmel's Reaction

"I guess this is why the game is 40 minutes long," said head coach Rob Krimmel. "We played selfish basketball in the first half and couldn't get any stops. I didn't say a whole lot at halftime because we have an older, mature group, and I wanted to see how we responded. I thought the zone gave us a nice boost and we played with great energy in the second half."

Turning Point

The Blue Devils made 9-of-12 three-pointers in the first half to open up a 49-29 lead. With 18:08 to play, Ian Krishnan was fouled by Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) shooting a three-pointer and Krimmel disagreed agree with the call and was issued a technical foul. Krishnan sank four of five free throws and SFU trailed by 21 at the under-16 media timeout. That's when something magical happened and DeGol Arena came to life.

Flagg scored on three straight possessions as Saint Francis cut the deficit to 59-44. So you're saying there's a chance...

Next, it was Blackmon's turn. The senior scored four consecutive points, which included a highlight worthy, breakaway, reverse dunk to cut the deficit to 11. The Saint Francis run continued up until a Dixon-Conover layup with 9:34 to play capped a 19-0 run over a span of 6:18 as SFU trailed 59-57.

Central Connecticut State settled down and the teams went back-and-forth up to the under-four media timeout. The Blue Devils took a 70-67 lead with 3:23 remaining, but senior Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./Delsea) answered on the other end with an old-fashioned three-point play. CCSU followed with a three-pointer, but it was matched by Dixon-Conover to tie the game at 73-73 with 2:28 left. 

Dixon-Conover's fourth three of the game banked off the backboard on the next possession. CCSU cut it to one, but Blackmon followed with a long two. Saint Francis closed out the game with consecutive stops and Braxton went 4-for-4 at the foul line to cement the historic come-from-behind win.

Inside the Box Score

• After shooting 19-32 (59.38%) from the field in the first half, the Blue Devils were held to 10-30 (33.3%) in the second half. CCSU shot 29-62 (46.8%) from the field for the game.
• Saint Francis rebounded from a first half that saw it go 10-28 (35.7%) to shoot 20-37 (54.1%) in the second half and 30-65 (46.2%) for the game.
• The hot-shooting Blue Devils finished 11-25 (44.0%) from three-point range. Saint Francis went 6-19 (31.6%) from behind the arc.
• CCSU finished 8-10 (80.0%) from the charity stripe, while SFU made 18-25 (78.6%).
• Saint Francis grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and held a 43-30 advantage on the glass.
• Second chance points were 19-8 in SFU's favor, while points in the paint were lopsided for SFU at 44-22.
• The Red Flash didn't commit a turnover in the second half and finished the game with a 13-9 advantage in turnovers.
• The Saint Francis bench was outscored 39-4.

Notes

• Flagg's game-high 19 points were also a season-high.
• Dixon-Conover entered the game 0-for-8 from three-point range, but went 4-for-4 in the win. In addition to his 18 points, he added a career-high five steals.
• Saint Francis had four players score 16 or more points in Flagg (19), Dixon-Conover (18), Blackmon (18) and Braxton (16).
• Sophomore Myles Thompson (Camden, N.J./Camden) added nine points and seven rebounds.
• It was the second game this season that Saint Francis has won when trailing by 10 or more points.
• Only 41 games in the history of NCAA Division I basketball have witnessed a larger comeback than the 21-points erased by Saint Francis. The NCAA record for largest comeback is 34 when Drexel overcame a 34-point deficit to defeat Delaware on Feb. 22, 2018.
• Of the 41 previous larger comebacks, none occurred in an NEC game.

Up Next

Saint Francis will look to ride the momentum into Saturday's noon matchup vs. Bryant. The game will be nationally-televised on CBS Sports Network.