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Loretto, Pa. - The Saint Francis men's basketball team (8-5) returns home with games vs. Wagner on Thursday, Jan. 9, and St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday, Jan. 11. Both games are scheduled to tip at 7 p.m.
 
Scouting Wagner
 
Like Saint Francis, the Seahawks split its opening weekend of conference play, earning a hard-fought road victory at Mount St. Mary's before dropping a close home contest to Sacred Heart. The Seahawks are 4-9 overall and led by grad transfer Curtis Cobb at 17.5 ppg, good for third in the conference. Cobb is making 41.4% of his three-pointers, the fifth best clip in the NEC. Junior Alex Morales is second on the team in scoring at 13.5 ppg and fourth in the league in assists at 4.4 per game.
 
Series History
 
Saint Francis and Wagner split the two meetings in 2018-19 to run the series to 37-37. The Red Flash are 5-9 vs. Wagner under Krimmel.
 
Scouting St. Francis Brooklyn
 
The Terriers won their only game last week, downing Fairleigh Dickinson, 79-63. Led by Chauncey Hawkins' 15.8 ppg, the Terriers enter the week on a league-best four-game win streak and sit at 7-6 overall. The Terriers are balanced with Hawkins, Deniz Celen (12.2 ppg), Unique McLean (11.1 ppg) and Rob Higgins (10.3 ppg) averaging in double figures. Celen also leads the team in rebounds per game at 6.9, and shoots the best field goal pct. in the conference (60.2%). With Hawkins as the team's primary ball-handler, St. Francis Brooklyn has a +1.69 turnover margin, second best in the league.
 
Series History
 
The Red Flash lead the all-time series, 43-39, after each team protected its home court in 2018-19.
 
Lock 'Em Up
 
The Saint Francis defense has held its opponents under 70 points in six of its last seven contests, a good sign, since SFU is 16-2 since the start of 2018-19 when holding opponents under 70. SFU opponents are averaging just 66.6 ppg during the stretch, allowing Saint Francis to go 6-1 with a +14.6 scoring margin. In fact, it is the best defensive stretch of basketball by the Red Flash since the 2014-15 team held its opponents to 61.4 ppg over its first seven contests.
 
Blackmon makes it rain
 
Redshirt senior Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) earned his third career NEC Player of the Week and his first since 2016-17 after averaging 26.0 ppg and 7.5 rpg during the opening week of conference play. Blackmon made 12-19 three-pointers for the week, including 8-11 at CCSU, tying his career-high of 28 points. It was his fifth game with 20 or more points this season.
 
Conference Parity
 
If the opening week of NEC play taught us anything, it reminded us just how competitive the league is. Of the 11 teams in action, only two remain unbeaten (Robert Morris and St. Francis Brooklyn), and only Robert Morris sits 2-0. It was the same case last year as Saint Francis and Fairleigh Dickinson shared the regular-season league title with matching 12-6 records.