WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Despite going into the locker room with an advantage, Saint Francis falls 75-61 to CCSU in Northeast Conference (NEC) men's basketball action on Saturday.
>> Carlos Lopez, Jr. (Egg Harbor, N.J.) notched his second 20-point game and finished with 21 points to pace the Red Flash.
>> Chris Moncrief (Turtle Creek, Pa.) matched his career high of nine points and added four rebounds, two steals and an assist on the night.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
Holding a 36-32 lead at the break, the Frankies were outscored 7-0 in the first three minutes and 23 seconds of the final frame by the Blue Devils and were never able to even the score or take the advantage again the rest of the way. With the visitors holding a 46-44 edge, CCSU went on a 12-4 run to make it a double-digit margin. The Red Flash cut it to single digits three times in the final seven minutes of the game.

FLASH QUOTES
"I'm not quite sure where it happened, but Central Connecticut willed their style, and they played tougher than we did, both physically and mentally. These guys have to be able to bounce back and fix the things that we didn't do well in this particular game and play 40 minutes of Saint Francis basketball. It's in the locker room, it's him. They just have to understand what it's going to take night in and night out for 40 minutes to execute and worry about the things we can control and not worry about the things that we can't control." – head coach Rob Krimmel on the game
 
"I think the one thing that these didn't have an understanding for is the level of intensity that NEC played brings. It's just different and they didn't know that. Hopefully they understand that after three games what it's going to take when the other team has good players too, and they're all searching for the same thing. We just got to be able to take one day at a time stay in the present continue to get better individually but as a group understand what it's going to take every single day." – Krimmel on NEC play
 
"From a team standpoint, I just feel like once you put two halves together, I think nobody can beat us. But we haven't put two halves together. We just have to get more stops and play better defense." – Carlos Lopez, Jr. on what the team needs to do moving forward
 
"We know what each other can do. We have each other's backs. It's just can we just keep that consistency for two halves." – Chris Moncrief on the team mindset

FLASH MOMENTS
Saint Francis rallied from a 20-10 hole at the 7:59 mark in the first half and closed the stanza on a 26-12 run to go into the locker room with a 36-32 advantage. Lopez had 14 of his 17 points, while Moncrief added six of his nine points during this stretch. Cam Gregory (Accokeek, Md.) gave the Red Flash the lead at 31-30 on a floater in the paint at 1:16 remaining in the first half and then added another basket in the waning seconds to give the Frankies a 36-32 edge going into the locker room.

FLASH NUGGETS
Lopez notched his second 20-point game in the last four games and has registered back-to-back 20+ point games at DeGol Arena after posting a career-high 22 points against Campbell on December 30. The freshmen, who shot 7-for-11 from the field, 5 of 6 from behind the arc and 2 of 2 from the foul line on Saturday, has connected on 13 of his last 20 shots from the floor, 11 of his last 13 from 3-point range and 6 of 6 from the free throw line in his last two games in Loretto. Lopez, who ties Gregory with two 20-point games on the season, has posted double figures five times in his last eight games, including his last four at home. The freshman is averaging 17.0 points in his last four games at home.
 
Moncrief matched his career best of nine points for the third time in his career and the second time in a Red Flash uniform. The sophomore transfer from Evansville also had nine points at San Francisco on November 9. The four rebounds were also a career-high, while the two steals were a high in a Saint Francis uniform. After scoring in six of the first seven games, the sophomore had only scored four points against Iona on December 10 in his last seven games he played before Saturday's output.
 
Gregory finished with eight points, five rebounds and five assists. It is the third time this season the sophomore has hauled in at least five caroms and the second time this year he has dished out five or more assists.
 
Aaron "Ace" Talbert (Wyandanch, N.Y.) also finished the game with eight points.
 
Eli Wilborn (Middletown, Conn.) posted five points, five rebounds and three blocks. It is the fourth-straight game the freshman has registered three blocks in a game, the seventh time in the last eight games and the eighth time on the season. In addition, he has grabbed at least five rebounds in eight consecutive games and 11 times in his freshman campaign.
 
Saint Francis is 0-3 in league play for the third time under head coach Rob Krimmel after the 2020-21 and 2021-22 teams both started the league slate with three consecutive losses. However, LIU also started the slate 0-3 and won the NEC Tournament to become the only team in the 42 years of the league to accomplish that feat in 2012-13, while three times (2002-03 [St. Francis Brooklyn], 2004-05 [Wagner], 2008-09 [Mount St. Mary's]) a team started 0-2 and advanced to the title bout.

The Red Flash is 8-4 in NEC home openers under Krimmel and 23-20 since the inception of the league in 1981-82.

NEXT UP
The Red Flash returns to action and continues its three-game homestand against FDU on Monday. Game time is 7 p.m.