With the game tied at 20, the Sharks closed the half on a 24-11 run en route to an 81-63 win. The Red Flash cut it to nine points before the Sharks pulled away in the final 10 minutes of the game.
FLASH QUOTES
"Certainly disappointed with the outcome, but the guys with Zahree coming in and starting. I thought he played really well. I thought Flagg and Cohen did a great job. The shots didn't fall. There were a couple times again where we had some shots at the rim. We had some open looks and the shots didn't fall. That margin for error against a talented and experienced team, you got to make some of those shots. You got to execute some of those plays and limit those second chance opportunities for a very talented team."
- Krimmel on the game
"I just go out there and play hard and rebound. I started off the game pretty well with rebounding. I was reading the ball really well to be able to get some offensive rebounds for our team."
- senior Mark Flagg on the game
"It's going to be emotional. I've been here for half a decade. Everyone calls me an old man, even when we play other teams, guys will say, "you're still here?" Obviously, I want to put a good performance together on my senior night. It's the last game I am promised in DeGol. Some of the most fun times of my life have been playing in DeGol with the band and fans."
- Flagg on senior day
"Cohen has always been like a little brother to me. Ever since he came in on his visit and his recruit, we clicked right away. We've always had a bond. When he came in, he was a little softie. He used to get so mad at me when I gave him some elbows in practice. He was a softie, but he is a tough dude now. He's hard to block and our most improved player in my opinion. He can play ball. He's going to be so good here and I'm excited to watch."
- Flagg on Josh Cohen
"Mark's been a great role model for all the bigs. He was never a captain, but he was always a voice. We had some tough summer battles. When it was hot in the gym, and I've got
Mark Flagg throwing me into the bleachers. Flagg just kept saying, be tough and don't complain. That's one of the things that I'm going to carry on, especially when he leaves. Keep your head up and just keep playing hard. That's what he has done his whole career here. There's nothing bad I can say about
Mark Flagg."
- Cohen on Flagg
"Saturday is a great opportunity for us to honor five seniors who have meant so much to the program. Some guys have participated in a lot of winning basketball and have meant a lot not just to the basketball program and to the university and to my family. For what they have to go through on a daily basis, they are away from their families, and they are growing up here. To see them take that next step as young men, I know Saint Francis has prepared them for whatever's next. Saturday will be a neat opportunity, you only get one senior day so it's an opportunity for these guys to be honored in a special way and thank them for all that they have done for this program. I told them that everything that we have set out in the beginning of the year is still right in front of us, we can still accomplish those things."
- Krimmel on senior day on Saturday
FLASH MOMENTS
Saint Francis grabbed the lead five times in the first nine minutes of the game.
Jeriah Coleman (Anchorage, Alaska) gave the Red Flash its largest lead at 20-17 with 11:21 left in the first half. After LIU tied at 20,
Brad McCabe (Manasquan, N.J.) drained a triple at 10:01 to give the squad the lead for the final time at 23-20.
Harrison, who started the season 0-for-15 from behind the 3-point line, beat the shot clock buzzer with 2:54 left in the first half for his first triple of the season.
Trailing by 18 points, the Loretto program made a run to trim the margin to 62-53 with 10:14 left in the game. Land had seven points in the 11-2 spurt.
FLASH NUGGETS
Flagg notched his third double-double of the season and first since the first two games of the year, while it was also his fourth 10-rebound game of the season. The redshirt senior now has six career double-doubles and eight 10-rebound games in his career. He also has four 10+ point games this season and 28 in his career. With his 10 points, Flagg moved to within three points of 900 points for his career.
Cohen has posted four-straight games in double figures and nine in his last 11 games. He is averaging 12.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in that stretch.
Land notched his career-best sixth-straight game with double figures and is averaging 13.3 points per game in that span.
Chukwu Ikediashi (Hoboken, N.J.) (three points, two rebounds) and
A.J. Labriola (Altoona, Pa.) (one rebound) each saw action in the final two minutes and will be recognized on senior day on Saturday.
Krimmel was coaching in his 300th game as a head coach at Saint Francis. Dating back to the time he stepped on the Saint Francis campus in 1996, Krimmel has been apart of nearly 750 games as a player, assistant coach or head coach. He admits that he missed between two to four games when he was an assistant coach.
Saint Francis falls to 4-7 at home and will not register a winning mark at DeGol Arena for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
UP NEXT
Saint Francis will wrap up its regular season home slate on Saturday against St. Francis Brooklyn. Tip off is 4 p.m. Prior to the game and starting at 3:43 p.m., Saint Francis will honor seniors Flagg, Ikediashi, Labriola,
Ramiir Dixon-Conover (Newark, N.J.) and
Tyler Stewart (Silver Spring, Md.).
