BOX SCORE WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Junior Maxwell Land (Cincinnati, Ohio) says that he is just full of excitement and ready to attack in home openers and that is what Land did in his first game at DeGol Arena to lead Saint Francis past Hartford 77-53 in non-conference men's basketball action on Saturday night. Land notched a career-high 26 points on 11-for-18 shooting from the floor.
>> Land had a then career-high 19 points against Franciscan in last year's home opener. The junior has scored double figures in all three home openers in his career and is averaging 18.3 points per game in those contests.
>> Landon Moore (Bloomington, Ill.) backed up his performance in the season opener with another stat stuffing performance after finishing with 14 points, six rebounds, six assists and one steal.
>> Josh Cohen (Lincroft, N.J.) also found double figures with 11 points along with six rebounds and a block.
>> The game was the second edition of the Jack Phelan Classic, honoring the late former Saint Francis student-athlete and the former Hartford head coach. Phelan is in both school's athletic hall of fame. The Red Flash won the classic for the second year in a row after downing the Hawks 81-66 in Connecticut last season.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
Land scored the first six points of the game and Cam Gregory (Accokeek, Md.) knocked down his first 3-pointer for his first collegiate basket to help the Red Flash race out to a 9-0 lead. Hartford would cut it to six points at 12-6, but would get no closer the rest of the way.
 
FLASH QUOTES
"I want to thank the Phelan family for coming back and making this such a special event. For Patty and the whole Phelan family and friends to come back and for us to honor Jack one more time for what he meant to Saint Francis. His playing days here and a short stint as an assistant coach and to see the support from former teammates, friends, family members, grandkids came back was special. On a night were we also dedicated memorial for deceased basketball players, what a better way to celebrate Jack's legacy and life with the grandkids and the kids and all of the friends that came back to support – again acknowledge what he did for Saint Francis basketball. We want guys like Max Land put up 26 points and put us in a position to win games and we want develop even better people. It's great to be able to point to people like Jack and so many of the alums came back to support as example to define the great people Saint Francis College and Saint Francis University produce." - Head coach Rob Krimmel on the Phelan family and the Jack Phelan Classic
 
"I think we got off to great start. I think Jack looking down would be proud of the way these guys battled. The team is still learning how to win a basketball game and compete together as we search for combinations. All we are asking these 18 guys to do is add value and when their number is called be ready to play. Proud of the effort and pleased with two halves of basketball." – Krimmel on the play tonight
 
"This team is very energetic. The guys are very unselfish. Every opportunity that we are given on and off the court, guys are always together. With our comradery that we are still working on building, a lot of guys are feeding off of each other's energy." – Land on the team
 
"I just told them to be confident. We are Division I basketball players, at the end of the day you know what to do. You are here for a reason. Just go attack." – Land on two freshmen starting in the game tonight

FLASH MOMENTS
After the Hawks cut the margin to six points, four different Saint Francis players scored on a 10-3 spurt to take a 22-9 edge with 7:32 on the clock. The Red Flash led would teeter between eight to 12 points the rest of the first half to give the Loretto program a 33-21 lead going into the break.
 
Holding a 39-31 margin with 15:04 left in the second half, Land powered a 26-14 run over the next 11 minutes with 11 points, including a steal and a monstrous dunk at the 13:40 mark to cause a Hartford timeout en route to a 77-53 win.
 
FLASH NUGGETS
Land registered a career-high 20 points four times last season including ending the 2021-22 regular season with back-to-back 20-point performances. It marks the 14th time he has posted a game with at least 15 points and he joins Cohen as the only player on the team to score over 25 points since the Keith Braxton era. The junior is averaging 18.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in the first two games of the season after notching his first career double-double at Saint Bonaventure on Monday with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Moore's numbers looked similar to the ones he posted in his collegiate debut on Monday at Saint Bonaventure. The freshman had 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds against the Bonnies and is averaging 14.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game through two games. He is the first freshman to post back-to-back double figure games to start a career since Land had 12 points at Pitt and 10 points against UMBC to start his freshman campaign.
 
Cohen has now posted double figures in his last nine games dating back to last season. He has also grabbed at least five rebounds in his last 16 tilts. The redshirt junior paced the team with 21 points and seven rebounds on Monday and is averaging 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in his first two games this season. He now has 24 games in double figures and 33 games with five or more rebounds in his career.
 
Gregory (six points) and Gestin Liberis (Haverton, Pa.) (three points) both notched their first collegiate points in the game on Saturday. Wisler Sanon II (Sicklerville, N.J.) made his collegiate debut against Hartford and posted two points, four rebounds, seven assists, two steals and one block.
 
Moore and Gregory both started in the game, marking the first time two freshmen started in the same game at DeGol Arena since Randall Gaskins, Jr. and Braxton started against Bryant on March 1, 2017. The Red Flash started two freshmen during the 2020-21 season, but all five occasions were on the road.
 
Saint Francis is now 1-1 for the third-straight year and the seventh time under Krimmel. The Red Flash also improved to 8-3 in home openers under Krimmel.

NEXT TIME OUT
Saint Francis, who plays six of its first seven games at home, welcomes Cornell to town on Monday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.