Saint Francis University (5-9, 0-1 NEC) at Wagner College (6-7, 0-1 NEC)
Date | Time	Saturday, January 6, 2024 | 1:00 p.m.
Location	Staten Island, N.Y. | Spiro Sports Center
Television	NEC Front Row (Joey Wahler, play-by-play; Ryan Peters, color analyst)
Live Stats	SideArm
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | Wagner
Stats	Saint Francis | Wagner | Northeast Conference
Social Media	@RedFlashMBB  | #BELIEVE | @RedFlashMBB | Facebook

 

Saint Francis Probable Starters
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	0	Cam Gregory	6-5	165	So.	13.6	2.7	42.7	Scored 10+ in three straight NEC road games
G	2	Aaron "Ace" Talbert	6-0	185	Fr.	9.7	1.8	46.2	Leads the NEC in 3-point percentage
G	14	Bobby Rosenberger III	6-5	205	Fr.	7.5	3.4	36.2	Career-high five assists against Sacred Heart
F	5	Eli Wilborn	6-8	215	Fr.	8.2	6.8	59.0	Ranks second in the NEC in blocks
F	32	Aidan Harris	6-7	205	Fr.	3.1	4.1	41.0	Eight rebounds in last two games
Off the Bench
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	1	Braylen Blue	6-5	180	Fr.	2.6	0.1	63.6	One of 10 players to score 10+ points in a game in 22-23
F	3	Miles Webb	6-8	190	So.	3.8	2.3	37.9	Five points, four rebounds, two blocks, two assists vs. SHU
G	4	Carlos Lopez, Jr.	6-2	170	Fr.	7.1	1.8	33.0	Current NEC Rookie of the Week
G	11	Chris Moncrief	6-6	190	So.	2.8	1.4	38.9	One of eight players to appear in every game
G	13	Blaze Angellotti	6-4	195	Fr.	0.0	0.0	0.0	Made collegiate debut vs. Franciscan on Nov. 22
G	15	Aaron Humphrey, Jr.	6-7	210	Fr.	1.7	1.0	33.3	Career-high five points, four rebounds vs. Franciscan
G	20	Brendan Scanlon	5-8	175	So.	--	--	--	Out for the year with a leg injury
F	21	Gestin Liberis	6-9	225	So.	5.1	3.4	46.4	Five rebounds in four games this season
F	22	Ryen Gresko	5-11	170	Fr.	0.0	1.0	0.0	Had a rebound in collegiate debut vs. Franciscan
G	23	Wisler Sanon II	6-4	190	So.	3.7	1.9	33.3	Registered points in 11 of the 13 games played
G	24	Keshawn McNeill	6-1	180	R-Fr.	0.8	0.5	33.3	Notched first career points (3) vs. Franciscan
G	30	KJ Swain, Jr.	6-0	155	Jr.	2.0	0.0	50.0	Had two points in collegiate debut against Franciscan
G	33	Will Helton	6-4	175	Jr.	--	--	--	Redshirting this season and will not play
F	42	Daric Danchanko	6-8	240	So.	--	--	--	Redshirting this season and will not play

SELECT GAME NOTES VS. WAGNER (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Saint Francis head coach Rob Krimmel hits another milestone in his coaching career with his 350th game as a head coach on Saturday at Wagner.
• Krimmel, who came to Loretto in the fall of 1996 as a freshman and has never left, has been a part of nearly 800 games as a player, assistant coach or head coach in the last 28 years.
• Krimmel is tied with St. Thomas (Minn.) John Tauer for the longest tenure serving his alma mater at 28 years after playing four seasons, serving as an assistant coach and head coach for 12 years each. Krimmel, though, never left, while Tauer left to earn his doctorate in social psychology the University of Wisconsin–Madison after graduating and before returning to St. Thomas as a professor and assistant men's basketball coach before taking over the helm of the program.
• He admittedly is not the "Iron Man" Cal Ripken, Jr. of Loretto because Krimmel missed several games when he was an assistant coach.
• Krimmel became the Dean of the Northeast Conference when St. Francis Brooklyn ceased its athletic programs at the end of last year.
• Krimmel, who won his 150th career game as a head coach at Lehigh on November 29, needs three wins to reach 100 wins in league play. He would become the 12th head coach in NEC history to reach the mark.
• Saturday's game between Wagner and Saint Francis marks the 82nd meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1956-57 season.
• The Seahawks have won six of the last seven in the series to take a 42-39 edge in the all-time series.
• The two teams split the season matchup last season after each team won on the road. The Red Flash defeated the Seahawks 68-63 in the Spiro Center, while Wagner earned a 68-58 win in the regular season finale.
• Saint Francis won three games on the road last season and all three were in the state of New York after the win in Staten Island and sweeping the two games against St. Francis Brooklyn and LIU. It was the first time since the 2016-17 campaign the Frankies
won all three NEC tilts in the Empire State.
• Krimmel's teams have eight wins against Wagner with five victories coming in Staten Island, including an instant classic in the postseason in the semifinals in the 2016-17 season. Then freshman Keith Braxton scored an improbable three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Red Flash to a 71-70 win in the NEC semifinals. That team NEC guru Ryan Peters asked Krimmel if his 2023-24 team was similar to that team at this year's NEC media day.
• Saint Francis opened the NEC schedule 0-1 for the 23rd time in program history and the seventh time under Krimmel.
• The squad also opened the conference season with a loss in 2013-14, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-23 in the last 12 years.
• Three times the team came back to win the second NEC game of the year (2013-14, 2017-18, 2019-20), while the team also started 1-1 in 2012-13 and 2018-19.
• In two of those seasons the squad would go on to finish with a 12-6 record (2017-18, 2018-19) and posted a 13-5 mark once (2019-20).
• Saint Francis has also started the year 0-2 under Krimmel in 2016-17, 2020-21 and 2021-22. The 2016-17 team went on to finish 11-7 in the circuit after starting the year 0-2 on the road.
• The Red Flash opened NEC play 2-0 in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2022-23 under Krimmel with all three of those starts coming at DeGol Arena. The 2014-15 and 2015-16 teams finished the year 9-9, while last year the team was 10-6 in league play.
• It is the first time Saint Francis has opened the league slate on the road since 2019-20.
• The Red Flash returns to DeGol Arena for its NEC home opener on Saturday, January 13 against CCSU. It will be the second-straight season the Frankies will open the home league slate against the Blue Devils.
• The game against CCSU starts a stretch of five of out six games at home. It will be the third time under Krimmel the squad will have at least five of six at home in NEC play. The Frankies had five of six at home in 2013-14 and seven of eight at home in 2019-20.
• The start of the season is also tough with the Red Flash playing teams that finished Top-5 in the NEC preseason poll in the first four games of the league slate.

AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Give head coach Rob Krimmel a win in his 350th game as a head coach
• Open the NEC slate 1-1 for the sixth time under Krimmel
• Be the second-straight win at the Spiro Center
• Give the team three road wins which would tie last year's mark (all three of the wins came against NEC New York teams)

LAST TIME OUT
• Sacred Heart defeated Saint Francis 79-67 on Thursday in the NEC league opener. The Red Flash were trying to become the second team to upend the NEC preseason favorite at home dating back to the 1996-97 season.
• Sophomore Cam Gregory and freshman Aaron "Ace" Talbert paced the Red Flash with 14 points each.
• Freshman Eli Wilborn tallied 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in his return to his home state.
• The Pioneers jumped out to as large as a 24-point lead in the first half, capitalizing on 16 Red Flash turnovers that turned into 18 points off those turnovers. Saint Francis cut the margin to seven points midway through the second half, but could get no closer.
• Along with all the freshmen that saw their first career NEC action, sophomores Chris Moncrief and Miles Webb also made their NEC debut. Moncrief is the team's lone transfer from Evansville, while Webb had his season halted last season before league play. Webb had five points and a career-high four rebounds, two assists and two blocks against the Pioneers.

ABOUT THE SEAHAWKS
• Despite trailing by 19 points in the first half, Wagner was able to grab a 67-66 lead with 2:16 left before a 3-pointer by LIU with 1:13 remaining handed the Sharks the win in the NEC opener for both teams.
• Junior Tahron Allen paced the Seahawks with 16 points, while junior Melvin Council, Jr. (15 points), junior Javier Ezquerra (13 points) and sophomore Julian Brown (10 points) also found double figures.
• Council is the only Wagner player averaging double figures with 14.3 points per game. He also leads the team in rebounding (5.2 rpg.) and steals (20), while ranking second in assists (46).

TRENDING UP
• Sophomore Cam Gregory continues to career-best streak of six-straight games in double figures in points. What might be more impressive might be that he has posted at least 14 points in all six games. That is a feat that he only did once as a freshman and two times before this current streak. He is averaging 16.5 points per game in his last six games.
• With the start of league play, Gregory added another streak to his repertoire. The sophomore has scored double figures in three-straight NEC road games dating back to last season after posting 10 points at St. Francis Brooklyn on February 16 and a then NEC-best 13 points against LIU two days later. His 14 points against the Pioneers on Thursday established a new league best for Gregory.
• Freshman Aaron "Ace" Talbert has registered double figures in his last four games and is averaging 13.5 points per game in that stretch. It is also the second time the freshman has posted 10 points on the road among his seven double-figure games this season. His other double figure game on the road was 12 points at Lehigh on November 29.
• Freshman Eli Wilborn recorded his fourth double-double of the season and fifth game with at least 10 rebounds in his first league action. The Connecticut native has posted double-doubles in each of his last three road games and is averaging 11.3 points and 11.6 rebounds per game in that span. Wilborn has grabbed at least 10 rebounds in back-to-back games for the second time in his career, while he has registered at least three blocks for the fifth time in his last six games and six times on the year.
• Freshman Bobby Rosenberger III narrowly missed reaching double figures for the third-straight time against Sacred Heart, finishing with nine points. Rosenberger has five 10+ point games this season, but only has one of those games outside the state of Pennsylvania with his 16 points at American on December 2. The freshman did add a career-high five assists against the Pioneers and has dished out at least three assists four times this season.
• Freshman Aidan Harris registered eight rebounds against Sacred Heart for his second-straight game with eight boards. The freshman is second to only Wilborn with three games with at least eight caroms, including a career-high 15 rebounds against Lehigh.
• Freshman Carlos Lopez, Jr. hopes the success he had in the month of December carries over into the new year. The freshman averaged 13.0 points per game and connected on 42.6 percent (20-for-47) of his shots from the floor and 41.4 percent (12-for-29) from behind the arc. In addition he has registered double figures in four of his five games in the month. He has posted double figures in three-straight games and is averaging 15.7 points per game in that stretch.
• Conversely, Lopez started his first collegiate month of basketball averaging 3.5 points per game and shooting 20.5 percent (9-for-44) from the floor and 7.1 percent (2-for-28) from downtown. The freshman had a then career-best eight points twice in the month of November.
• Saint Francis has trailed by 20 points or more eight times this season, including four times since the team returned to playing other mid-major teams. The Red Flash rallied from 20-points down for the team's second biggest comeback under head coach Rob Krimmel against American. In the three other games (Niagara [November 25], Mount St. Mary's [December 15] and Sacred Heart [Thursday]), the Frankies cut it to a two-possession game against Niagara (five points) and Mount St. Mary's (six points) and seven points against the Pioneers at one point in the second half.