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Emmitsburg, Md. – The Saint Francis men's basketball team (16-8, 9-4 NEC) heads into Mount St. Mary's (10-15, 6-6 NEC) on Saturday on a four-game win streak. The game vs. the Mountaineers will tip at 4 p.m.
Scouting Mount St. Mary's
The Mountaineers have enjoyed a bounce back season under second-year head coach Dan Englestad and are in contention for a home playoff game, already besting their overall win total from 2018-19 with 10 to this stage of the season. The Mountaineers have capable scorers up and down the lineup, led by sophomore Damian Chong-Qui at 12. ppg, and an athletic front court with sophomores Nana Opoku and Malik Jefferson. The Mountaineers boast the second-best defense in the conference, holding opponents to 66.0 ppg. Vado Morse, the NEC Rookie of the Year in 2018-19, is another scoring option who averages a tick under 2.0 made threes a game. Jefferson is a handful on the low black, averaging 9.2 ppg and 7.5 rpg for the season.
Series History
Saint Francis snapped a torturous seven-game losing streak vs. Mount St. Mary's last season with a series sweep. The Mountaineers lead the series 49-32.
Clinched
The Red Flash secured a berth in the NEC Tournament for the seventh consecutive season on Thursday and are in position to host a quarterfinal for the fourth season in a row. Under head coach
Rob Krimmel's leadership, Saint Francis has qualified for the playoffs in seven of eight seasons. Saint Francis sits 1.5 games behind Robert Morris and Merrimack for first-place and would be the No. 2 seed if the season ended today.
Cream of the Crop
When comparing mid-majors in the Northeast Region, Saint Francis has established itself as one of the best around for three consecutive seasons. Among the 41 programs in the American East, MAAC, NEC and Patriot League, Saint Francis is tied-for-sixth in overall wins since the start of the 2017-18 season with 52. Only Vermont, Colgate, UMBC, Stony Brook and Bucknell have more among the four conference's combined. Saint Francis also ranks tied-for-fifth among the 14 Division I Pennsylvania schools, trailing only Villanova, Penn State, Penn and Bucknell.
Special Class
The 2020 senior class, which features
Isaiah Blackmon (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte),
Keith Braxton (Glassboro, N.J./Delsea), Randall Gaskins Jr.,
Deivydas Kuzavas (Kretinga, Lithuania/St. Mary's Ryken (Md.)), and
Scott Meredith (Pilot Mountain, N.C./Hargrave Military Academy (Va.)) will go down as one of the best in program history. Since their arrival in 2016, the Red Flash have won 16 or more games in all four seasons, recording 68 total wins. With a win on Saturday, it would have the most wins by a senior class since Maurice Stokes' graduation class of 1955.
