WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Despite trailing by 20 points early in the second half, Saint Francis went on a run to trim the margin to a two-possession game. The valiant effort came up short for the Red Flash in a 69-61 loss to Niagara in non-conference men's basketball action on Saturday.
>> Cam Gregory (Accokeek, Md.) became the first player to reach 20 points this season and finished the game with a career-high 22 points.
>> Gestin Liberis (Havertown, Pa.) registered his second-straight 10+ point game with 11 points, while Aaron "Ace" Talbert (Wyandanch, N.Y.) narrowly missed his third-consecutive double-figure performance finishing with nine points and a career-high five rebounds.
>> The game was the 150th game head coach Rob Krimmel has coached at DeGol Arena as the head coach, and he currently sits at 149 wins in his 12-year coaching career.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
Niagara took the lead for good in the first four minutes of the game and built its advantage up to 20 points with 13:28 left in the game. A 25-10 run by the Frankies cut the margin to 62-57 with 1:44 left, but a 3-pointer in the corner with 84 seconds left by the Purple Eagles helped seal the win.

FLASH QUOTES
"The ability to focus when it's time to compete is extremely important. I thought for the first 20 minutes our focus wasn't there. We were doing some things defensively that were a little bit out of character. Offensively, we were missing the easy ones and having to rely on some tough ones. But I'll give these guys credit. I thought that as a group we battled back when our backs were against the wall. The first thing I told them was that I was proud of the way that they battled being down 20 to get the thing to a two-possession game. The kid had a tough corner three that was contested that if we get that stop now all of a sudden, the momentum is on our side." – head coach Rob Krimmel on the game
 
"You have to control what we can control and play our style of basketball. There's no 20-point play. And there is still plenty of basketball left to be able to get to a game that's one or two possessions like we did tonight. But to get there you got to do what we do. You can't try to play hero basketball. Even in those moments when you're down big, you need to execute that next play. In the second half, we did a much better job through the last 12 minutes of executing the plays," - Krimmel on what he told his team at the timeout after Niagara was up by 20 points
 
"Yeah, definitely I think it's a learning experience. We don't want to hang our heads at all. We know that those shots are going to fall. Tonight wasn't our night. As you can see, we were still in the game. And we just got to know that we have to start getting stronger next time and just that'll contribute to our win." – Cam Gregory on the game
 
"We need to keep growing from this and not letting it dwell on us. We need to have an understanding to keep a positive mindset, always, even during a bad time." – Chris Moncrief on the game

FLASH MOMENTS
Fueled by 14 points by Gregory, in the eight-minute run, Saint Francis went on that 25-10 run to early pull off the comeback. The sophomore, who finished the game 10-for-26, was 6-for-9 in the spurt. Wisler Sanon II (Sicklerville, N.J.) had four points in the surge and cut the margin to five points with 1:44 left in the game.
 
Bobby Rosenberger III (Quakertown, Pa.) gave the Frankies a quick 2-0 lead with a layup 46 seconds into the game and then after Niagara tied the contest with a basket of its own, Chris Moncrief (Turtle Creek, Pa.) handed Saint Francis the lead for the final time with a jumper at 17:59 for a 4-2 edge.
 
The Red Flash scored five unanswered points to take a seven-point margin to four points midway through the first half. Talbert scored in the lane at 9:53 and Sanon hit the front end of two charity tosses at 9:30 to trim the deficit to 17-13.

FLASH NUGGETS
Gregory, who started the Thanksgiving holiday break with a then career-high 19 points, averaged 16.0 points per game in the three games. The sophomore has registered double figures four times this season and eight times in his career and now has scored over 15 points three times in his career.
 
Liberis reached double figures for the third time this season and the fourth time in his career. He has posted two 10+ point games at home and two on the road. After posting a career-high 15 points and 10 rebounds, the sophomore has scored double figures in consecutive games for the first time in his career. The sophomore is averaging 13.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in his last two tilts.
 
Talbert scored at least nine points in all three games at DeGol Arena and is averaging 14.3 points per game. Along with a career high in rebounds, the freshman tied his career best with two assists.
 
This is the second straight year the Red Flash played three home games over the Thanksgiving holiday. 

NEXT TIME OUT
Saint Francis returns to action on Wednesday at Lehigh. Game time is 7 p.m.