>> NEC Press Conference Transcript

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Six days ago, Josh Cohen (Lincroft, N.J.) and Maxwell Land (Cincinnati, Ohio) combined for 55 points to help Saint Francis clinch a home Northeast Conference (NEC) home quarterfinal game. The duo almost repeated that performance by tallying 48 points together to lead the Red Flash past CCSU 83-69 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night and into the NEC Semifinals. 
>> Cohen registered 25 points and 12 rebounds, while Land registered 23 points in the win.
>> Ronell Giles, Jr. (Brandywine, N.J.) added 14 points and a career-high eight rebounds.
>> Saint Francis will now play in its fifth NEC Semifinals under head coach Rob Krimmel when the team travels to FDU on Saturday at 8 p.m. The game will air on ESPN 3 and SNY.
 
TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
Saint Francis closed the first half on a 15-4 run to take a 39-30 lead at the break and never looked back. Giles gave the Red Flash the advantage it would not relinquish on a 3-pointer with 4:47 and Brad McCabe (Manasquan, N.J.) followed that up with a great steal and fast-break dunk. Giles paced the spurt with eight points including both of his 3's on the night.

FLASH QUOTES
"I first would like to congratulate Pat (Sellers) and his team. Pat has done a tremendous job in his two years there and they competed and presented a tough challenge for us tonight. One more game we are promised 40 more minutes and we are looking forward to competing with these guys."– head coach Rob Krimmel on the game
 
"It's important and I think the guys in the locker room understand with these three that are sitting with me tonight that there could be three more guys that could step up and play at a high level the next night out and as a head coach and bring in a group of guys that doesn't care who gets the credit it makes my job a lot easier. This time of the year it doesn't matter if you play for two minutes or 40 minutes, what matters is that you leave it all out on the floor. I'm thankful that these guys had the opportunity to play a playoff game inside DeGol Arena in front of this great atmosphere and fans."– Krimmel on playoff basketball

"It's just what we've been building for all year. We've done a great job of integrating guards and bigs in and out in practices having Landon coming back tonight. Ronell got him right back into the fold and guys like him Max, Luke everyone did a great job of sticking together and we are really starting to hit our stride."– redshirt junior Josh Cohen on the game
 
"The energy was awesome. I've been waiting for this moment in my four years here. We were all locked in and focused. The goal isn't to beat CCSU it is to keep winning and moving on and eventually win an NEC championship."– Cohen on the postseason

"It's very important because you got guys on the perimeter making shots and you can't double Josh all night so it's like what are you gonna do? He is gonna kick the ball out and find the right person and then open up one on ones for himself."– junior Ronell Giles, Jr. on ball movement

"Not really, we just need to turn the page this game is over with. We will look at the scout for FDU and see what we need to do to guard them and score on them and just turn the page on this game."– juniorMaxwell Landon looking ahead to the next game

FLASH MOMENTS
With the Loretto program holding a 43-37 lead, Cohen powered eight unanswered points with four-straight points to hand the Red Flash a double-digit lead that it would hold for the rest of the night. 
 
CCSU cut the margin to 53-43 with 12:36 on the clock only to see Saint Francis go on a 15-5 spurt to extend its lead to 20 points. Land powered this spurt with eight points.

FLASH NUGGETS
Saint Francis advances to the NEC Semifinals for the fifth time under Krimmel and the first time since the 2019-20 campaign. The Red Flash will be making its seventh appearance in the semifinals (1982-83, 1990-91, 2014-15, 2016-17, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2022-23). Saint Francis is 4-2 in the semifinals and looks to win a semifinal game on the road for the first time since defeating Wagner 71-70 in 2016-17.
 
Cohen, the NEC Co-Player of the Year, has registered 20 points or more in three-straight games and back-to-back double-doubles for the second time this season. He has now hauled in 12 rebounds against four NEC opponents in his career. The redshirt junior has 17 games with at least 20 points including 10 since the New Year. With his 25 points, Cohen has now posted the 664 points this season, the fourth-most in program single-season history. He also now has connected on the third-most field goals (251) in team history. The redshirt moved over the 1,100-point mark and now sits at 1,120 points in 32nd place in program history. 
 
Land, an All-NEC second-team selection, registered his third 20-point game in his last three games and the fifth of the season. It was also his second 20-point game against CCSU after reaching the total at CCSU in the last weekend of the regular season last year. Land has recorded double figures in eight of the nine home games against league opponents this season, while the 23 points is the third-highest point total of his career.
 
Giles posted his sixth double-figure point game of the season to move within one point of 500 points in his career. It was also just his second 10+ game at home this season. After registering seven rebounds twice this season and three times in his career, the junior established a new career best in the category.
 
Landon Moore (Bloomington, N.J./Western Reserve Academy [Ohio]) returned after missing 12 games due to a hand injury. He registered nine points, three assists, two rebounds and a block in 24 minutes off the bench.

McCabe finished with five points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.
 
Prior to the game, Land and Marlon Hargis (Mays Landing, N.J.) were the only two active players that had played in an NEC Tournament game. It was the first-ever postseason meeting against CCSU.

NEXT TIME OUT
Saint Francis returns to action at No. 2 FDU on Saturday. Game time is 8 p.m.