Merrimack College (10-16, 8-4 NEC) at Saint Francis University (9-15, 6-5 NEC)
Date | Time	Saturday, February 11, 2023 | 4 p.m.
Location	Loretto, Pa. | DeGol Arena
Television	NEC Front Row (Pat Farabaugh, Play-by-Play, Bernie Jubeck, Color Analyst)
Live Stats	SideArm
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | Merrimack
Stats	Saint Francis | Merrimack | Northeast Conference
Social Media	@RedFlashMBB  | #BELIEVE | #RideTogether | @RedFlashMBB | Facebook

OPENING TIP
• Saturday's game marks the seventh meeting in the all-time series between Saint Francis and Merrimack dating back to the 2019-20 season.
• The Warriors, who have won two-straight games, lead the series 5-1, including a 2-0 mark in Loretto.
• Merrimack defeated Saint Francis in overtime 65-64 in overtime in the tilt last season at DeGol Arena.
• The two teams will square off twice in a week span after meeting on February 4 in North Andover, Massachusetts.

THE WORD ON MERRIMACK
• The Warriors, winner of three straight games, comes into the contest 10-16 overall and 8-4 in Northeast Conference play after defeating Stonehill 56-43 on Thursday. 
• Jordan Minor powered the win on Thursday with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Ziggy Reid registered 13 points and Javon Bennett chipped in 10 points.

LAST TIME WE MET
• Despite cutting it to a two-point game after  trailing by 16 points, Saint Francis lost 70-66 at Merrimack on February 4.
• Josh Cohen paced the Red Flash with 17 points and eight rebounds. Maxwell Land (15 points) and Brad McCabe (14 points) also scored in double figures in the game.
• Ziggy Reid fueled the Warriors with 22 points. Javon Bennett also posted 20 points and Jordan Minor added 18 points.

LAST TIME OUT
• Redshirt junior Josh Cohen posted 22 of his 27 points in the second half, eight in overtime and the game-winner with 3.6 seconds left in overtime to lift Saint Francis past Sacred Heart 78-76  on Thursday night on ESPN U.
• Junior Maxwell Land added 14 points and redshirt junior Brad McCabe registered 12 points, including tying the game with 17 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
• The Red Flash rallied from a 17-point second-half margin for the win.

A SFU WIN WOULD
• Be the seventh-straight win at home
• Improve to 9-3 at DeGol Arena
• Be the team's first win against Merrimack in Pennsylvania
• Be the team's second win in the month of February
• Be the team's 10th win of the season to reach double figures in wins for the first time since the 2019-20 season under head coach Rob Krimmel and the eighth time in his 11 years

TRENDING UP
• In addition to coming up on 1,000 career points, redshirt junior Josh Cohen became the eighth player under head coach Rob Krimmel to register 500 points in a single season and now has the sixth most points in his tenure with 518 points. Next on the list is a pair of Keith Braxton standout seasons (528, 2018-19; 532, 2017-18).
• Cohen has registered seven games with more than 26 points this season and only his 40-point performance against Lehigh and Thursday's 27 points against Sacred Heart have been at home. 
• With eight rebounds he can also mark the 10th time under Krimmel a player has reached 200 rebounds in a season, and needs 31 rebounds for 500 in his career. He would become the 29th player in team history with 500 boards and the 20th player to register 1,000 points and 500 caroms in Saint Francis history.
• Redshirt junior Brad McCabe registered double figures in three-straight games for the first time in his career after posting 12 points at Stonehill on February 2, a season-high 14 points at Merrimack on February 4 and 12 points against Sacred Heart on Thursday.  He has scored double figures eight times this season and 11 times in his career. 
• Junior Maxwell Land has posted double figures in nine of the 11  NEC games and is averaging 13.0 points per game this season.
• Saint Francis is 8-2 this season when it makes at least eight baskets from behind the arc, which is also the total needed to give away free a free Big Mac at home games. The team is 8-0 at home when this happens. 

• While the Petula Clark will tell you that you can forget all your troubles and forget all of your cares and go downtown, there is another area that has been key to the Red Flash success this season. The team is 8-6 when it has more points or even number of points inside the paint. 

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Saint Francis has been down 16 points and 17 points in the last two games. The Red Flash won one and lost one. It may not be a coincidence that the victory came at DeGol Arena.
• The Red Flash has faced a double-digit deficit 16 times this season, but only three times at home. The win on Thursday was the first time this season the team won after trailing from double figures.
• In NEC play, the Frankies have rallied from nine points down against Stonehill on December 31 and the 16-point rally against the Pioneers on Thursday. In both of those contests, the Red Flash won after a defensive stand on the last play of the game.
• The squad has now won six-straight home games and improved to 8-3 at home with the come-from-behind win against Sacred Heart on Thursday.
• The last time the team won six in a row at home was 2019-20 when they won their final eight games in Loretto. The streak started, ironically, after the team's next opponent, Merrimack, defeated the Red Flash 72-55.
• The overtime win ended a six-game overtime losing streak for Saint Francis. The last win in OT before Thursday was a 77-71 win against CCSU on February 15, 2018.
• If the game on Saturday against Merrimack also has an extra session it would be the first time since Maurice Stokes and his Frankies played back-to-back OT games in the NIT against Dayton and Cincinnati in the 1954-55 season. Stokes had a then program-record 43 points against Dayton in OT.
• The Warriors and Red Flash played in OT last season in Loretto with Merrimack taking the contest 65-64. It was one of three games that went to OT last season for the Loretto program.
• Redshirt junior Josh Cohen scored 26 points against Merrimack last season, which is the exact total he needs to become the 43rd player in program history to reach 1,000 points in his career. The redshirt junior comes into Saturday's game with 974 career points.
• Saint Francis and Merrimack will play twice in a seven-day span. It will be the sixth time under head coach Rob Krimmel that he will face a team twice in a week as head coach, discounting the 2020-21 CoVID season when every series was back-to-back that year.
• The last year in a traditional season the team play a team twice in a week was 2017-18 against Wagner. 
• In a quirky 2014-15 season, the Red Flash faced four teams in the same week including two teams in back-to-back games. In the four games that were played back-to-back the team won all four games, but the squad is 5-5 all time when facing the same team twice in seven days under Krimmel.
• With the win, it snapped a four-game losing streak and the team improved to 6-5 in league play on the year and currently sits in fourth place.
• Historically when the conference had a 16-game schedule double figure wins in NEC play guaranteed a Top-4 finish, which would be a home game this season, but even nine wins have been a Top-4 finish in the past. Remember Stonehill is not eligible for the NEC Tournament in 2022-23 so the remaining eight teams make the tournament.
• Saint Francis played three of its last five at home and could get to nine wins by going 3-2 in those contests. 
• The Red Flash will travel to Brooklyn for its final two regular season road games next week at St. Francis Brooklyn (February 16) and LIU (February 23) before wrapping up the regular season at home.