BOX SCORE » Ronell Giles, Jr. (Brandywine, Md.) reached double figures for the seventh straight game with a team-high 16 points to lead Saint Francis University against the University of Illinois in non-conference men's basketball action on Saturday.
» Giles did most of his damage at the free throw line, connecting on a career-best 7 of 8 from the charity stripe while adding five rebounds on the afternoon.
» Myles Thompson (Camden, N.J.) added 12 points and five rebounds, while Ramiir Dixon-Conover (Newark, N.J.) chipped in 10 points.
» The Red Flash heads home to wrap up the non-conference schedule against Robert Morris on Wednesday.
TURNING POINTS OF THE GAME
After Saint Francis started out making its first three shots to take a 9-5 lead, the Red Flash made one of its next 13 shots. Illinois took advantage to take the lead and go into the locker room with a 47-23 lead en route to a 106-48 win.
FLASH QUOTES
"It's a good basketball team we played against today, and I think in my 25 years I don't think we played a post player as dominant as Kofi (Cockburn). I thought the coaches put together a really great game plan, but thought we missed opportunities defensively to try and take them out of some of those shots and make them more contested instead of being open looks. We are grateful for the opportunity to compete against Illinois and the thing that we need to do going into our next opportunity is learn from these moments."
– head coach Rob Krimmel on the game
"It's another opportunity for us to play at home. Regardless of the opponent you have to protect your home court and defending DeGol. Obviously, there is a little different element when you play Robert Morris and a rivalry that goes back along time. Its our last non-conference game and for us it's a chance to build a little bit of momentum going into conference play. For that rivalry game, it's a game that we played a lot as a member of the Northeast Conference and we hope to continue to play throughout the years. Its another opportunity to compete at DeGol and looking forward to competing with these guys."
– Krimmel on Robert Morris game on Wednesday
FLASH MOMENTS
Dixon-Conover got the scoring started with a trey 30 seconds into the contest to give the Loretto program a 3-0 edge. After a basket by the Illini, Giles drained a triple 60 seconds into the game for a 6-2 edge. Illinois made a 3-ball before Thompson restored the four-point edge on a trey two minutes into the contest.
Mark Flagg (Fairless Hills, Pa.) grabbed an offensive rebound at the 16:30 mark for his 600th rebound of his career.
FLASH NUGGETS
Giles has posted seven-straight games in double figures after notching a six-game streak to end his freshman campaign. He has posted 16 points or more and is averaging 15.1 points per game in this span. Giles grabbed five rebounds in a game for the fourth time this season and seventh time in his career.
Thompson has reached double figures for the fourth time this season and 40th time in his career. It is the sixth time the senior has scored at least nine points against a Power 6 Conference team, including a career-high 23 points against Florida State in his sophomore year. He also hauled in four rebounds for the fourth time this season and the 44th time in his career.
Dixon-Conover has registered double figures in eight of nine games this season and has posted at least 10 points in 23 of his last 27 games.
Ben Seidel (Johnstown, Pa.) recorded his first points since posting five points against Franciscan his freshman year.
UP NEXT
Saint Francis returns to action in its non-conference finale against Robert Morris on Wednesday. It is the first game between the two programs since the 2020 Northeast Conference Championship Game, and the first time since the Colonials joined the Horizon League. Game time is 7 p.m.
