WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Saint Francis drops its 2023-24 season opener to UCLA 75-44 in non-conference men's basketball action on Monday.
>> Gestin Liberis (Havertown, Pa.) paced the Red Flash with a career-high 12 points, while Wisler Sanon II (Sicklerville, N.J.) added nine points.
>> The new look Saint Francis team featured nine new players that played their first game in a Red Flash uniform, including eight players that made their collegiate debut.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
After Carlos Lopez, Jr. (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) tied the game at 17, the Bruins went on a 13-1 run and closed the half on a 15-5 run to go into the locker room with a 32-22 lead and went on for its second win against the Loretto program. 

FLASH QUOTES
"I thought we got off to a slow start. You can tell we had a few jitters but I think the effort was good. I thought they competed after that initial four-minute stretch where there were a lot of nerves. It's the first step. I didn't expect us to show up and arrive as a basketball team and be perfect in game one. I'm pleased with the effort, just need to clean up some execution things." – head coach Rob Krimmel on the game
 
FLASH MOMENTS
Trailing 8-2, the Red Flash scored the next eight points to tie the game at 8 with 12:03 left in the first half. Sanon started the run with two free throws at 13:36 before Liberis made the team's first field goal of the night at 12:44 and then Aidan Harris (Annapolis, Md.) tied the game on a pull up jumper.

UCLA would take an 11-8 lead only to see Aaron "Ace" Talbert (Wydanach, N.Y.) drain his first collegiate basket on a 3-ball at 10:49 to tie the game once again. Sanon then tied the game on a jumper at 10:29 at 13 at 10:29 before hitting a free throw at 8:52 to give the Red Flash its only lead of the game at 14-13.

The Bruins retook the lead and went up 17-14 before Lopez nailed a triple at 7:26 to tie the game at 17. 

FLASH NUGGETS
Liberis, one of the four returning sophomores on the team, finished the game 4-for-7 from the floor and 4 of 5 from the free throw line to notch his second 10-point performance of his career and his first since recording exactly 10 points at LIU on February 18, 2023.

Sanon posted all nine of his points in the first half to notch his second-most points in his career. The sophomore had a career-best 11 points against Saint Vincent on December 8, 2022.

Lopez, Harris, Talbert, Braylen Blue (Sun Praire, Wisc.), Aaron Humphrey, Jr. (Indianapolis, Ind.), Keshawn McNeill (Camp Zama, Japan), Bobby Rosenberger III (Quakertown, Pa.) and Eli Wilborn (Middletown, Conn.) each made their collegiate debut in the contest, while Chris Moncrief (Turtle Creek, Pa.) made his Saint Francis debut after playing last season at the University of Evansville. Liberis, Lopez, Moncrief and Miles Webb (Arlington, Va.) all made their first career start.

Lopez finished with eight points, Talbert had five points and Harris tallied four points and a team-best five rebounds to each register their first collegiate points on the night.

The November 6 season opener is the second earliest inaugural game of the year for Saint Francis after the team opened the 2019-20 campaign one day earlier at VCU.

This was only the second-ever meeting against UCLA. The last contest, 145 games ago, was the last time the Red Flash did not have a double-digit scorer, but Liberis kept that consecutive streak alive with his 12 points.

NEXT TIME OUT
Saint Francis continues its three-game West Coast trip at San Francisco on Thursday. Game time is 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST.