LIU (10-11, 6-0 NEC) at Saint Francis University (7-13, 2-4 NEC)
Date | Time	Friday, January 24, 2025 | 7 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 | LIU
Stats	Saint Francis | LIU | Northeast Conference
Social Media	@RedFlashMBB  | #BELIEVE | @RedFlashMBB | Facebook

 

Saint Francis Probable Starters
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	5	Daemar Kelly	6-5	195	So.	6.2	2.7	37.5	Averaging 8.3 ppg in last three games
G	7	Jeremy Clayville	6-0	160	Fr.	8.9	1.8	40.4	Had 17 points in his last game at DeGol Arena
G	11	Riley Parker	6-2	195	Jr.	11.8	3.5	47.9	Four games with 18+ in last seven
G	14	Bobby Rosenberger III	6-5	205	So.	11.2	4.6	42.7	Eight points away from 500 for his career
F	31	Valentino Pinedo	6-8	230	Jr.	9.4	6.7	54.4	Coming off first NEC double-double (12 pts, 11 rebs)
Top Players Off the Bench
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	0	Chris Moncrief	6-6	190	Jr.	4.1	2.2	45.3	NEC career-high 13 points at Wagner
G	2	Ace Talbert	6-0	185	So.	10.2	2.8	35.4	Averaging 12.8 ppg in last four games played
F	3	Miles Webb	6-8	190	Jr.	5.1	3.6	59.7	One of two players with a double-double at home this year
G	4	Juan Cranford, Jr.	6-3	205	Fr.	9.6	3.6	50.4	Averaged 11.0 ppg on road trip
G	15	Victor Payne	6-4	190	Fr.	2.1	1.3	39.4	Sealed FDU win with three free throws
F	21	Gestin Liberis	6-9	225	Jr.	---	---	---	Averaged 11.0 ppg and 7.7 rpg in last four games played
G	23	Wisler Sanon II	6-4	190	Jr.	---	---	---	Averaging 10.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg in last two games played
F	32	Aidan Harris	6-7	205	So.	2.2	2.2	53.3	15 rebounds in last four tilts

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

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Friday's game between Saint Francis and LIU marks the 90th meeting in the all-time series, dating back to the 1963-64 season. Despite the Sharks holding a 46-43 advantage in the matchup, the Red Flash are 29-12 against LIU at home, including winning five of the last six meetings.
• "My sarge didn't give me any overtime, so I'm trying to do it lickety-split." - Mike Donnelly in Black Sheep. The Red Flash played overtime against Wagner for the second straight time on Monday and went to double overtime for just the sixth time in program history. The team played twice against Robert Morris in two OTs in 1983-84. The squad played a three-overtime game against St. Francis Brooklyn (on this date 17 years ago) and a double overtime game against Wagner in 2007-08, while the last time the Frankies played two extra sessions was in 2012-13. It was the 23rd time Saint Francis played an overtime game under head coach Rob Krimmel and the 20th time in NEC play.
• "And then there was Jimmy Two Times, who said everything twice." - Henry Hill in Goodfellas. Since we are in the 70th Anniversary of the 1954-55 team's outstanding season, it would be only fitting that the 2024-25 iteration would do something only done by that team. The only time in Saint Francis history the team played consecutive overtime games was when the Red Flash played Dayton on March 17, 1955, and Cincinnati on March 19, 1955, in the NIT in Maurice Strokes' final two games in a Frankie's uniform. The closest the team has come to playing back-to-back overtime games since was twice in the final four games of the 2007-08 season.
• These two weeks almost rival the old NEC Rivalry Week it staged from 2009-11 with the Keystone Clash against Robert Morris. Saint Francis will play both LIU and Wagner twice in 14 days. Along with NEC Rivalry Week, in 2009-10, Saint Francis completed its season series with Monmouth and FDU, and in 2017-18, with Wagner and Sacred Heart in consecutive weeks. The Frankies have also played a team twice in a seven-day span in 1989-90 (Wagner), 2000-01 (St. Francis Brooklyn and Quinnipiac), 2002-03 (Monmouth), 2014-15 (FDU), and 2022-23 (Merrimack). We are discounting the 2020-21 year.
• Saint Francis returns to Loretto after playing FDU, LIU, and Wagner in a three-game road trip. The three schools are separated by just 31.8 miles and an hour and two minutes trip (in good traffic) to hit all three schools. However, the Red Flash traveled to FDU on January 12, returned to Loretto and made its trek back up to the area last weekend. The two-week round trip covered 1,202 miles, 18 hours, and 25 minutes.
• When we last saw the Red Flash at DeGol Arena, the squad defeated Mercyhurst 73-59 on January 10. Saint Francis is looking to win consecutive NEC home games for the first time since the Frankies won the first four league games in the 2022-23 campaign. The last win in that run was a dramatic 17-point second-half rally to defeat Sacred Heart 78-76 in overtime on ESPNU on February 9, 2023. Hopefully, three separate mentions of overtime will not be like saying Beetlejuice three times.
• After these two games at home, Saint Francis will face five of the next six games away from DeGol Arena. 

AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Make the Red Flash the fifth team to end an undefeated conference record at 6-0
• Give head coach Rob Krimmel his 99th win at DeGol Arena in his career 
• Be the team's third-straight win against LIU at DeGol Arena
• End a two-game losing streak
• End a two-game skid to LIU
• Improve the Frankies home record to 6-3 and 3-3 against NCAA Division I teams
• Improve to 2-1 on Fridays at home

ABOUT THE SHARKS
• LIU comes into the contest 10-11 overall and 6-0 in NEC play after defeating Mercyhurst 72-63 on Monday. 
• According to @NECHoopsRon, the Sharks are the 13th team in the NEC to start at least 6-0 in league play. Four of the previous teams lost their seventh games, including the 1990-91 Saint Francis team that would go on to win its only NEC title. The Red Flash lost on the road at Robert Morris 89-87 on January 19, 1991, in the seventh game. The Colonials (1982-83), FDU (1996-97), and Bryant (2012-13) are the other three teams to start 6-0 before falling in game seven.
• Malachi Davis paced the Sharks with 23 points and nine rebounds against the Lakers. Jamal Fuller tallied 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Shadrak Lasu also hauled in 12 boards.
• Davis, the current NEC Player of the Week, leads the team with 17.9 points per game. Fuller is second on the team in both scoring (11.6 ppg.) and rebounding (6.0 rpg.), while Lasu averages a team-best 6.9 rebounds per game.

LAST TIME WE MET
• LIU defeated Saint Francis 64-51 on January 18 in Brooklyn at the Wellness Center. 
• Freshman Juan Cranford, Jr. paced the Red Flash with 10 points, while Malachi Davis (23 points) and Jamal Fuller (10 points) each had double figures for the Sharks. 
• Bobby Rosenberger III paced the Red Flash in a 72-66 win at DeGol Arena with 21 points and nine rebounds the last time the two teams met in Loretto on January 19, 2024. Eli Wilborn added 19 points, and Cam Gregory scored 18 points. Tana Kopa powered the Sharks with 20 points, while Tai Strickland (17 points) and R.J. Greene (10 points) also had double figures.

LAST TIME OUT
• Saint Francis lost in double overtime at Wagner on Monday, 70-68.
• Junior Riley Parker paced the Red Flash with 19 points, while fellow junior Chris Moncrief had 13 points for an NEC career-high.
• Parker tied the game on three free throws with 18 seconds left at the end of regulation and gave the Red Flash its only lead twice in the first extra session.
• It was the first double overtime game since playing at CCSU on February 28, 2013, in head coach Rob Krimmel's first season. 

TRENDING UP
• Junior Riley Parker could almost give away free corn dogs ("Corn dogs, Jackie! Corn dogs, for all these people!"- Father Pat The Ref in Semipro) both home and away. He has registered 116 points at home and 120 on the road, needing nine points at home and five points on the road for a Jackie Moon 125-point special nonexistent giveaway. Parker is the only Red Flash player averaging double figures on the road and at home and has posted double figures in six of his last seven games, averaging 15.7 points per game with four games with 18 points or more in that span.
• After missing two games, junior Chris Moncrief might have taken a play from Fez in That 70s Show: "Opportunity does not knock, then knock again, then leave a note saying "sorry I missed you". The junior averaged 10.0 points per game in the two games, including registering an NEC career-high of 13 points against Wagner on January 20. He had seven points against LIU two days earlier. It was his most points in a game since posting a career-high 17 points against Penn State Schuylkill on November 20. After playing a total of 41 minutes in the previous four games, Moncrief played a career-high 33 minutes at the Spiro Center.
• Junior Valentino Pinedo registered his first career double-double in NEC play against Wagner and the second of his career. He reversed his numbers in his two tricks, tallying 11 points and 12 rebounds at Penn State on November 12 and 12 points and 11 boards at Wagner. All three of Pinedo's 10+ rebound games have come on the road. The most rebounds he has registered in a game at DeGol Arena was eight against CCSU on January 3.
• Sophomore Aidan Harris has hauled in 14 rebounds, including a pair of games with five boards in the last five contests after grabbing 14 rebounds in 10 games he played against Division I opponents.
• Sophomore Daemar Kelly is averaging 8.3 points per game for his best three-game stretch since averaging 8.6 points per game in his last three games of the opening five-game road trip.
 

I WOULD WALK 500 MILES, AND I WOULD WALK 500 MORE
• Sophomore Bobby Rosenberger III needs eight points to reach 500 points in his career. The sophomore would become a 500 proclaimer and the first Red Flash player since Ronell Giles, Jr. reached the total in his final game in a Red Flash uniform at FDU on March 4, 2023. 
• Giles was one of three players that reached 500 points in their career at Saint Francis on that 2022-23 squad, joining Josh Cohen and Maxwell Land. 
• Rosenberger would become the first player since Myles Thompson to reach the mark in his first two seasons. Thompson posted 510 points in his first two years in Loretto. Cohen, who finished with 1,132 points in a Red Flash uniform, recorded 456 points in his first two seasons and Land, who had 870 points in his three seasons with Saint Francis, finished with 485 points in his first two seasons. 

ON THIS DATE
• On January 8, 1955, the Red Flash registered its first win against a ranked opponent. On this date in 1959, the Frankies posted its second only other win against a ranked team with a 92-81 win against No. 13 Saint Bonaventure. It was the Bonnies first of two losses in the regular season.  Wilbur "Tree" Trosch, who averaged 19.7 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, led the 1958-59 Frankies. Joe Aston was second on the Frankies with 15.4 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. Trosch was one of four players drafted into the NBA to play in the game, but he never played a game because he wanted to start a family. St. Bonaventure's Whitey Martin, Sam Stith, and Tom Stith would each be taken in the NBA draft. The Cincinnati Royals drafted Sam Stith.
• Saint Francis is 9-15 on this date, including holding a 7-3 at home and 4-9 in Northeast Conference play.
• It will be the Red Flash's third time tangling with LIU on this date, but the first time at DeGol Arena. Saint Francis defeated the then Blackbirds 80-71 in 1994 and fell 89-77 in 1998 at the great Paramount Theatre. 
• The last time Saint Francis won on this date, Devin Sweetney registered 21 points and 11 rebounds in a 92-84 win against St. Francis Brooklyn in 2008. Grant Surprenant added 18 points, including sending the game to a second and third overtime 3-pointers at the end of both frames. Cale Nelson hit consecutive 3-pointers in triple overtime to give the Red Flash the lead for good off assists from Sweetney. Nelson finished the game with 13 points, while Chris Berry (12 points), Bassirou Dieng (11 points) and Marquis Ford (10 points) in the win. 
FUN FACT
• Before Gonzaga became the Gonzaga that we know today, Saint Francis defeated the Bulldogs 87-71 on the road on this date in 1956 in the first year post-Maurice Stokes.