WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> It's not often that you are put in the same position in back-to-back games, but that is exactly what happened on Saturday at DeGol Arena. Saint Francis held a 78-76 lead with six seconds left and Campbell had the ball, but this time the shot attempt by the Camels hit off the rim and time expired with the Red Flash holding on for the win in the final non-conference game for both teams.
>> Freshman Carlos Lopez, Jr. (Egg Harbor, N.J.) led the way for the Frankies with a career-high 22 points thanks to a 6-for-9 shooting night, 6 of 7 from behind the arc and 4 of 4 from the free throw line. He had eight points in the final four minutes and 25 seconds and each shot was big with a pair of 3's and two free throws with 51 seconds to help Saint Francis maintain the lead.
>> Cam Gregory (Accokeek, Md.) added 18 points, while Aaron "Ace" Talbert (Wyandanch, N.J.) tallied 12 points and nine assists. 
>> Eli Wilborn (Middletown, Conn.) also had himself an afternoon with seven points, 10 rebounds, five blocks and three assists, and Bobby Rosenberger III (Quakertown, Pa.) chipped in 10 points.
>> The Loretto program went 13-for-26 (50 percent) from 3-point land against a Camel team that ranked fifth in NCAA Division I in 3-point field goal defense at 25 percent. 

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
Saint Francis never trailed in the game and the game was tied twice only twice at the opening tip and with 2:27 and 1:20 left in the first half, but that does not mean that the game did not have its suspense. 
 
First, the Red Flash took the lead it would not relinquish with a 6-0 run in 60 seconds. Talbert put the Frankies up for good on two free throws with 1:13 remaining in the opening half before Lopez drained one of his six triples with 42 seconds left and Wilborn made 1 of 2 at the line with 20 seconds remaining. The Camels did hit a 3-ball with four seconds left to make it a 40-37 game at the turn.
 
Despite jumping out to a 12-point lead, Campbell was able to cut the margin to a one-possession game four times in the final 11 minutes of the game including the final three minutes. 
 
Saint Francis had an answer each time. With the score 72-70, Lopez knocked down a triple from the corner with 2:23 left. A 4-0 run by the visitors and Lopez hit two free throws with 51 seconds left for a three-point edge. Two Campbell charity tosses, and Gregory hit the backend of two free throws with six ticks on the clock.
 
The Camels got the ball down the court and wouldn't you know Wilborn, who contested the last shot against Robert Morris 10 days prior, has his hand in the shooters face again on Saturday, but this time the shot clanks off the rim and no one can secure the rebound before the buzzer sounds.

FLASH QUOTES
"I thought for 40 minutes we played the way we wanted to play. We knew that we couldn't just turn this into a half-court game and walk it up and play possession basketball like that. We had to steal a couple possessions, whether it be off the press, forcing turnovers or stealing possession offensively get an extra shot. These guys are starting to develop a little bit of a rhythm offensively and certainly a good way to end 2023." – head coach Rob Krimmel on the game
 
"In my 12 years as a head coach, there's a fine line between winning and losing. But the emotional gap in locker room can be extremely wide, and we experienced that before Christmas. One possession game and Robert Morris hit the shot and they were happy, and we were disappointed. And I told the group, one of the first things I said is your response to something like that says a lot about your character individually but as a team, and again, the margin for error tonight was very slim and the emotion in our locker room was obviously one of joy and excitement. But now the challenge for us is we turn to turn the page and get to 2024 and the Northeast Conference." – Krimmel on the highs and the lows of the last two games
 
"We huddle up and we try to get through it together so it's not really just one person. It's all five of us. We always try to get through it. We do it together whether it's offensively or defensively." – Aaron "Ace" Talbert on working through good and bad stretches of the game
 
"We didn't want to come out lackadaisical or come out in the second half slow footed. We tried to stay together as a team do what we know and do what it takes to win," – Talbert on the lessons learned from the Robert Morris game.
 
"It means a lot. I just wanted to contribute it to my team. Anyway, I could. I don't know. I know. That's what I could do. I shoot the ball, so I just my teams are finding me an open space." – Carlos Lopez on his night
 
"There's the fact that we're all young and we trust each other. We're going to do it together." – Lopez on playing close games
 
"I was like please don't go in." – Eli Wilborn on being on defense for the last shot for the second-straight game

FLASH MOMENTS
Saint Francis started the second half on a 9-0 run to take its largest lead at 49-37. Talbert started the run with a layup at 19:15 before Gregory splashed a 3-ball at 18:56 and Rosenberger hit 1 of 2 with 17:26 on the clock. Rosenberger then hit a trey with 16:08 left for the 12-point lead and his 10th point of the afternoon.
 
Campbell cut it to 55-51 with 9:51 left when Talbert came up big with two layup ups and ones to help extend the lead back to 62-55. 
 
In the first half, the Loretto team jumped out to a 15-6 lead with 13:47 left in the stanza. Rosenberger keyed the run with two from behind the arc. After the Camels cut it to a 15-12 margin, the Red Flash went on a 7-0 spurt to take a 22-12 advantage. Gregory had three points, Miles Webb (Arlington, Va.) had two free throws and Gestin Liberis (Havertown, Pa.) scored in the lane during this stretch. 

FLASH NUGGETS
Lopez, who has now scored double figures in four of his last five contests, becomes the second player on the team to reach 20 points in a game this season and his 22 points match Gregory for the most points scored in a game this season. The freshman is averaging 13.8 points per game in his last six games. It is the first time this season a player hit six from downtown and the first since against CCSU on February 24, 2022.
 
Gregory has scored double figures in five-straight games for the first time in his career and has registered at least 16 points in four of those tilts. The sophomore leads the team with nine 10+ point games this season and 13 in his career. Since the Red Flash made its home debut against Pitt Greensburg on November 20, Gregory has seven 10+ point games, six games with 15+ points and is averaging 15.8 points per game in those nine tilts. He also had three rebounds and two assists.
 
Talbert's nine assists are the most since Ramiir Dixon-Conover registered 10 helpers against Bryant on January 14, 2021. It is also the ninth time a player has had at least nine assists under Krimmel and Talbert is the sixth different player to post that number.It is also the second-straight game he has at least five assists and the third time since he joined the starting lineup in his last four contests. In addition, he has scored double figures in three-straight games for the first time in his career, the sixth time this season and the fifth time in Loretto. The freshman is averaging 12.5 points per game in his last eight games.
 
Wilborn's five blocks were the most since Mark Flagg had five rejections against Bryant on February 9, 2019 and now has 24 blocks on the season to surpass Flagg for the second-most blocks as a freshman under Krimmel. He also moves into the Top-10 as far as blocks in a season under the 12th-year head coach. Staying with the blocks, Wilborn has turned away three or more shots in four of his last five games and six times in his freshman campaign. The three-time and current Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Week also had 10 rebounds for the fourth time this season and the first time he did not finish with a double-double. The three assists he handed out also matches a career high in the category.
 
Rosenberger finished the game with 10 points for the second-straight game and the fifth time this season. It is the second time in his young career that he has posted double figures in back-to-back games.
 
Aidan Harris (Annapolis, Md.) added eight rebounds, two points, two steals and a block. It is the third time this season he has grabbed at least five rebounds in a game and his second-highest total to the 15 that he corralled at Lehigh on November 29.
 
Saint Francis finishes the non-conference slate with five wins for the fourth time under Krimmel, joining the 2014-15 (6-4), 2017-18 (5-5) and 2018-19 (7-3) teams. 
 
The Frankies have been in four games this season decided by two points or less with all of them coming in the last six games. The Red Flash are 3-1 in those games with wins against Lehigh, American (75-73, December 2) and Campbell. The only game the team lost in that time was its game against Robert Morris 10 days ago, 75-73. Under Krimmel, the Flash is 15-15 in games decided by two points or less, but are 5-1 in the last two seasons.

Saint Francis earned its first win against the Coastal Athletic Association (former Colonial Athletic Association) since defeating William & Mary 78-72 on December 22, 2019 and the first win against the league since defeating George Mason 69-57 on December 2, 1997. In that game, assistant coach Eric Taylor had 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Krimmel had 12 points. It also marked the first time a team from North Carolina played in Loretto since Saint Francis defeated UNC Greensboro 61-54 on November 28, 1998. Krimmel also earned his first win against the Tar Heel state after only playing Power 5 teams Duke (2017-18) and UNC (2018-19) in his time as head coach.

NEXT UP
Saint Francis returns to action and opens NEC play on the road for the first time since the 2019-20 season at Sacred Heart on Thursday at 11 a.m. The Pioneers are the NEC preseason favorite and the Red Flash will face four of the Top-5 teams in the preseason poll in its first two weeks of the season.