The game was won in overtime, but the turning point might have been at the end of regulation. Trailing 54-51 with 2:43 left, Land missed a 3-pointer to tie the game only to see Brad McCabe (Manasquan, N.J.) with a thunderous-crowd-erupting #SCTop10 put-back dunk to cut the margin to one point. Cohen scored in the lane with 85 seconds on the clock and then Ramiir Dixon-Conover (Newark, N.J.) converted two free throws with 54 seconds left to give Saint Francis a 57-54 lead. Ten seconds later, Merrimack tied the game on a wide-open triple. A turnover by the Red Flash gave the Warriors a chance, but their shot did not fall to send the game to overtime.

Merrimack had the first strike in overtime, but Cohen then hit consecutive baskets to give Saint Francis a 61-59 edge with 3:34 left in the extra session. Points were traded between the two teams with Land scoring off a Cohen assist for a 63-61 lead with 2:01 left. The Warriors scored four-straight points to take the advantage for good at 65-63 with 51 ticks remaining. Cohen was fouled and sent to the line with 10 seconds left. The redshirt sophomore made the first and missed the second, but McCabe got the offensive rebound with 6.7 seconds left. After a Red Flash timeout, two shots did not fall and time expired.

FLASH QUOTES
"If you didn't have a rooting interest in that game, you're just looking for a good college basketball game – I don't know if you are going to find a better one. Down to the wire, back and forth to me there wasn't much separation for those 45 minutes. Proud of the way these guys played. It's a fine line between winning and losing and the emotional gap is huge. One locker room is super excited and the other one is certainly disappointed. The details, the discipline, the things that we did over the course of 45 minutes, we put ourselves in a position to win the game. As a coach, that's all you can ask for." - head coach Rob Krimmel on the game

"With six-seconds left, Marlon and Brad gave us a great surge on the glass to knock the ball out of bounds. We executed the plays we needed to execute, certainly disappointed but proud of the way these guys competed for 45 minutes." - Krimmel on the final seconds of the game

"His ability to shoot the ball, his athleticism and his ability to rebound is something moving forward that we are going to have to rely on a little bit more because he is such a good rebounder. We don't want him to lurk on the perimeter. He's good at that, but we need him to rebound, and he did that tonight. His versatilty is something that we're going to have to rely on moving forward. He's a great example of a young man who's had to play a couple different positions because of circumstances." - Krimmel on Marlon Hargis
 
"His ability to come in and get extra work even though you're not being called, is a testament to his character. He comes in everyday with a great attitude. He never makes an excuse. He never comes to my office and says, coach play me more. He comes in and says, "Coach, what do I need to do to help this team?" And that's a credit to his character." - Krimmel on Brad McCabe

"Everything that you want to achieve as a college basketball player is still in front of us. As bad as you feel right now, the ability to come and leave tomorrow better than we found it. That's the challenge." - Krimmel on the next game
 
"We've had a tough week obviously, but we have a lot to learn. Two tough losses like that, we just got to keep moving forward. Go forward with the calendar. Tomorrow we got a lift at 12 and that's the most important thing." - sophomore Maxwell Land on the game and moving on

"We've been close this year and it shows a true testament to what we have here. We have guys that have never even played before giving us big minutes. Not much more you can ask for from an effort standpoint. We've been talking about execution all week. Sometimes we have some mental lapses here and there, but I can't fall on any of the guys." - redshirt sophomore Josh Cohen on the game

"Eleven out of 10. That was hype. Just seeing how far along Brad has come this season. You don't see Brad a lot on the court, but behind the scenes Brad has been tremendous. In our preparation for teams, they got to scout and all of that. Just seeing him being able to make a highlight play like that, I know how hard he's worked. It was awesome to see." - Land on McCabe's dunk and play this season

This in no ordinary dunk by @bmccabe5. Lets get @SportsCenter attention and see if it might be #SCTop10 worthy.

Come on 🔴⚡ fam so your Pride and like and retweet this and tell your friends. Heck make some friends and have them retweet it.#BELIEVE https://t.co/M0UaA5nLYa

— Saint Francis Men's Basketball (@RedFlashMBB) February 5, 2022

FLASH MOMENTS
Trailing 10-3, Saint Francis went on a 12-4 run to take a 15-14 edge with 11:23 left in the opening stanza. Cohen had four points before Hargis capped the spurt with a 3-ball.

In the second half, Merrimack opened up a 34-28 lead with 16:27 remaining. The Loretto program responded with another 12-4 run to grab a 40-36 margin. Land hit a pair of treys and McCabe also had one from behind the arc in the run. 

FLASH NUGGETS
Cohen notched the most points in a single game this season by the Red Flash with his career-best 26 points, surpassing his own then career-best 23-point performance at American on Dec. 8 and Dixon-Conover's 23 points against Bucknell on Dec. 1. It was the first time a Saint Francis player posted at least 25 points in a game since Isaiah Blackmon posted 30 points against Robert Morris on Feb. 18, 2020. Cohen has posted double figures 12 times this season and 16 times in his career. It is the fourth time this season the redshirt sophomore has posted at least 18 points in a game. Cohen averaged 17.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game in the week. He also notched his fourth double-double of the season and fifth of his career after narrowly missing the trick on Thursday. He had five assists on Saturday after dishing out a career-best six dimes in his last game.

Land has registered double figures in three-straight games and four of his last five tilts. He is averaging 14.6 points per game in that stretch. Since the start of conference play, Land has made at least three from behind the arc seven times after only hitting a trio in a game one time during the non-conference slate. The sophomore also moved over 400 points for his career and now stands at 401 points.

Hargis matched his career-best in rebounds with eight, but it was also the first time he posted eight caroms in a game this season. The senior doubled his career-best assist total after dishing out three assists twice this season including the meeting against Merrimack in Massachusetts. Hargis registered at least seven points in a game for the ninth time this season.

McCabe, who registered a career-high 11 points and three rebounds on Thursday, posted five points and a personal-best eight rebounds in 26 minutes against the Warriors. He averaged 8.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 22.0 minutes per game after recording 11 points, seven rebounds and 34 minutes in 13 career games coming into the weekend.

Dixon-Conover tied his career-best six steals. He also had six thefts against Hartford on Dec. 14. The redshirt senior added seven points, five rebounds and two assists. Luke Ruggery (Duncansville, Pa.), who had a career-high 10 points against Bryant on Thursday, made his first collegiate start on Saturday and played 20 minutes with an assist and a steal. 

UP NEXT
Saint Francis, who is in the midst of five of six games at DeGol Arena, will hit the road at Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday. Game time is 7 p.m.