BOX SCORE WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Landon Moore (Bloomington, Ill.) scored all 15 of his points in the final five minutes and 28 seconds to power a 19-12 run and made a key defensive play on the last play of the game to hand Saint Francis a 73-72 win against Stonehill in Northeast Conference (NEC) men's basketball action on Saturday.
>> Josh Cohen (Lincroft, N.J.) was fouled with five seconds left with the Red Flash trailing 72-71. The redshirt junior swished both charity tosses to give the Loretto team a 73-72 lead. The Skyhawks rushed up the floor and called timeout with two seconds left. Stonehill attempted to inbound the ball to Andrew Sims, the NEC's second leading scorer, but Moore was able to get a hand in on the ball. Sims regained control of the ball, but his shot that fell short as the horn sounded.
>> Moore was 4-for-5 from the floor, 2 of 3 from behind the arc and 5 of 5 from the free throw line in the final five minutes and 28 seconds. The freshman added four assists, three rebounds and a steal to go along with his 15 points on the afternoon.
>> Cohen led the way with 18 points and nine rebounds. Maxwell Land (Cincinnati, Ohio) added 13 points and six rebounds, while Marlon Hargis (Mays Landing, N.J.) had 10 points off the bench in the first half.
>> Saint Francis starts the NEC schedule 2-0 for the 10th time in program history and the first time since 2015-16.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
In the final seven minutes of the game, four pe scored for the Red Flash. Cohen, Cam Gregory (Accokeek, Md.) and Brad McCabe (Manasquan, N.J.) each had two points while Moore produced the other 15 points to erase a 61-52 deficit. McCabe had his basket at 6:43. Moore then posted the next 10 points to cut the margin to 67-64 with 3:01 on the clock as part of a 12-6 spurt.
 
Gregory, who had a chance to tie the game at 67 but his 3-point attempt rolled around most of the rim and out, grabbed an offensive rebound and kissed it off the glass at 1:44 for his basket to make the score 69-66 on the ensuing possession.
 
Moore then had five of the next seven points to twice make it a one-point game at 70-69 with 1:18 on the clock and again at 72-71 with 48 ticks left. The Red Flash then had a chance to take the lead after a Stonehill turnover, but Moore made his one mistake in the final stretch after being called for traveling. The Skyhawks then missed both free throws at the line and Cohen was fouled. He buried both to give the Loretto team the lead and Moore's defense preserved the victory.

FLASH QUOTES
"I thought we did a pretty good job changing defense and keeping them off balance. Basketball games when it comes down to four minutes to play you have a chance. Landon, he made some big-time shots. Josh's free throws obviously were huge. We went to run a play at the end of the game and got the ball to Josh and got fouled and he made those two free throws. I give him a ton of credit. I think it says a lot about Josh and Max, our captains, about how we were able to withstand some bad basketball and put ourselves in a position to win the game at the end. Certainly, a good way to end 2022. Coach Eric Taylor challenged these guys to not be complacent with success and that starts when the clock hits 12:01 and we get ready for our next opponent a week from today." – Krimmel on the game
 
"I thought we played pretty hard today, but most importantly I thought we played together in the first half. That's really what sparked our great competition tonight. We came out a little slow in the second half. We weren't really executing that well, but we didn't give up. We had guys show up like Landon. Landon came around in the second part of the second half and he really helped us out. It was a great team effort tonight." – junior Maxwell Land on the game
 
"2-0 is 2-0. Coach talked about one point blow outs. I thought we had a lot more contributions from our guys. Guys were coming in giving great minutes. It was a good win." – redshirt junior Josh Cohen on the game 
 
"It's an awesome feeling. I'm happy for these guys, for these coaches. We went through some tough times. We just kept at it. We know we have a winning formula with this program, and we are going to just keep going." – Cohen on being 2-0 to start league play
 
"There is just a new energy in the air. It's conference play. It's a whole new season. We are working towards something in March. That's the ultimate goal, the regular season championship and three home games." – Land on being 2-0 to start league play
 
FLASH MOMENTS
Saint Francis went on a 6-0 in the first half to erase a 13-11 deficit and take a 17-13 lead with 12:33 left thanks to treys by Ronell Giles, Jr. (Brandywine, Md.) and Hargis.
 
With the score tied at 27, the Red Flash closed the final five minutes and 44 seconds of the stanza on a 12-6 run to go into the locker room with a 39-33 lead. Land powered the spurt with six points.
 
Saint Francis extended its lead to nine points at 42-33, 75 seconds into the final frame on a Cohen free throw and a Gregory jumper.

FLASH NUGGETS
Moore started the game 0-for-4 from the field and 0 of 1 from 3-point land but had four assists and two rebounds in the first 34 minutes of the game. The freshman has now scored double figures in each of his last four games and has posted at least 15 points in each of those contests. The four-time NEC Rookie of the Week is averaging 19.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in that stretch. In his first two NEC games, the freshman is averaging 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.
 
Cohen has scored 18 points or more 11 times this season and has finished with exactly nine rebounds four times, narrowly missing a double-double on each occasion. The redshirt junior dished out three assists on Saturday after recording four steals and two assists in the win against CCSU on Thursday. Since the game at Hawai'i, Cohen is 37-for-53 (69.8 percent) from the free throw line. 
 
Land reached double figures for the second-straight game and for the 10th time in his last 11 league games dating back to last year. The junior has nine 10+-point games this season.
 
Hargis returned to double figures in points for the first time in six games and the fourth time this season. The redshirt senior has 17 double-figure games at Saint Francis.
 
The Red Flash also started league play with two wins in 1982-83, 1986-87, 1990-91, 2002-03, 2004-05, 2009-10, 2011-12, 2014-15 and 2015-16. All 10 times the squad opened the NEC slate 2-0 the team played the first two games in Loretto.
 
Saint Francis earned its first win at DeGol Arena on New Year's Eve. The squad is now 3-6 on the final day of the calendar year.

The Red Flash improved to 5-3 at home this season after three-straight wins in Loretto.

NEXT TIME OUT
Saint Francis returns to action on Saturday, January 7 for its first NEC road test at Wagner. Game time is 4 p.m.