A Three-Point Barrage Helps Saint Francis Men's Basketball Past CCSU In NEC Opener

12/29/2022 10:47:00 PM

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Landon Moore (Bloomington, Ill.) led Saint Francis in points (20), rebounds (6) and assists (5), but the 80-72 win for Saint Francis against CCSU in the Northeast Conference (NEC) opener was truly a team effort in men's basketball action on Thursday.
>> Moore, Josh Cohen (Lincroft, N.J.), Luke Ruggery (Duncansville, Pa.) and Ronell Giles, Jr. (Brandywine, Md.) combined for 36 of the 44 Red Flash points in the second half to power the squad to the win.
>> Ruggery (15 points), Cohen (13 points), Giles (10 points) and Maxwell Land (Cincinnati, Ohio) (10 points) all finished the game in double figures.
>> Saint Francis started NEC play with a win for the first time since 2017-18 and for the 20th time in the 42 years in the league.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
Despite holding a 17-point lead in the first half, the Red Flash had to rally from a halftime and a six-point deficit for the victory. With the Blue Devils holding a 42-36 lead with 19:12 left in the second half, the Loretto program rolled off a 26-13 run to retake the lead for good at 62-55 midway through the second half. Moore had seven points in the spurt, but it was back-to-back baskets by Cohen at 14:41 and 13:55 to give Saint Francis the lead it would not relinquish.

FLASH QUOTES
"Certainly, a good after Christmas performance. It's one as a coach you're never quite sure what's going to happen after the break and for us a relatively young and some parts inexperienced team. Coming back from Christmas break, you want to make sure you are locked in and focused especially going into league play. Where the 16 games we are promised at this point, everything matters. I thought we had three great days of practice. The guys came back with a little bit sense of urgency, and we challenge them to stack days." - Head coach Rob Krimmel on coming back after Christmas

"I was pleased with the way we started. We shared the basketball, and we were locked in defensively then a little bit of a lull there in the first half, but basketball is a game of runs. Certainly, you don't want to be up 15 and put them back in the game. But these guys responded. They responded in a way in the second half that allowed us to take the lead and the extend the lead and in the last four minutes execute some things press offense wise, limit them to one shot, we did a great job rebounding the second half and for these guys to come out with a win and be 1-0 in league play is a credit to their perseverance." - Krimmel on the game

"I'm never going to go into a game cocky, but I'm going to believe in these guys and continue to believe in them. That belief I hope will filter down to the players because we are not there yet, but a win is a good check mark to continue that belief in each other." - Krimmel on believing in his players

"Tonight was a great team win. It was good to see the ball go in the basket and we made some runs. Our guys have worked really hard this year, one through 18, everyone worked. To see some guys that have been putting in the work, to get some opportunities to make sure baskets it was awesome to see." - Josh Cohen on the win

"He's playing well. He's hitting shots, he's doing his thing. He doesn't get rattled. If you watch him out there, he kind of has a sense of composure to him. That's not normal for a young kid. He can kind of stay composed and doesn't let other people affect him." - Cohen on Landon Moore

"There was one word that Coach Krimmel wrote on the board when we lost to Robert Morris and that word was focus. That's the word that we are taking into 2023. I think that was something a lot of us thought about over our four-day break." - Luke Ruggery on moving on from non-conference play

FLASH MOMENTS
The Red Flash made eight 3-pointers in the first 11 minutes and six seconds to not only take its largest lead at 26-9 with 9:09 left in the first half, but also sealed free Big Mac's (with a purchase) at local McDonalds for the DeGol Arena faithful. Saint Francis posted all but a Cohen layup off of shots from downtown. Maybe Leslie Gore said it best "forget all of your troubles and forget all your cares and go downtown." Five different players hit a 3-pointer in this stretch.

CCSU cut the margin to 62-60 in the second half, but Ruggery and Giles both hit from downtown to restore an eight-point edge. The Red Flash then won the game from the free throw line to improve to 4-1 against the Blue Devils in NEC openers and 3-0 in Loretto in those contests.

FLASH NUGGETS
Moore notched his second 20-point performance this season and in his last three games after registering a career-high 25 points against No. 25 Miami on December 17. The four-time NEC Rookie of the Week is averaging 20.3 points per game in his last three contests. After not having an assist against Robert Morris in his last game, the freshman notched his sixth game this season with five helpers.

Ruggery notched 15 points on Thursday after scoring a career-high 18 points in his last game in Loretto against Saint Vincent 21 days ago on his birthday. The redshirt junior, who was 5-for-5 from the floor and behind the arc on the night, is shooting 11-for-14 from the floor and 10-for-13 from 3-point land in his last two tilts at DeGol Arena and is averaging 16.5 points per game in those two games.

Cohen, who was averaging 32.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game on the three-game road trip, finished the game with his third-lowest output of the season with his 13 points, but the Red Flash has posted wins in three of his four lowest scoring games on the year. He has still posted double figures in all 14 games this season and last 21 contests dating back to 2021-22 and grabbed five boards for the 14th time this season. He also added four steals.

Giles posted double figures for the second-straight game after registering 12 points at Robert Morris. It is the first time the junior has scored double figures in back-to-back games for the first time since he had nine-straight 10+ games from November 24-December 22.

Land reached double figures for the first time in four games and the eighth time this season.

Cam Gregory (Accokeek, Md.) also had five assists for the third time this year. Brad McCabe (Manasquan, N.J.) added eight points.

It was the fourth time this season Saint Francis hit 14 baskets from behind the arc and the second most in 2022-23 only behind the 16 treys against Franciscan on November 23.

It is the fifth time the Red Flash has won the NEC opener under head coach Rob Krimmel and improved to 5-2 at home in those games under Krimmel. Saint Francis is 20-22 all-time in the first league game of the year and 15-6 in Loretto.

The Red Flash improved to 4-3 at home this season.

NEXT TIME OUT
Saint Francis returns to action on Saturday at home against Stonehill. Game time is 4 p.m.

Print Friendly Version