TURNING POINTS OF THE GAME
After playing three overtime games to end the regular season to give fans free basketball to use a baseball term, Saint Francis has won the last two games on freebies at the line.

Saint Francis rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to take the lead in the second half but then had to rally again in the final three minutes.

Trailing 67-62 with 2:59 left, Moncrief scored four of the next five points to cut the margin to 68-66 with 97 seconds left. Cranford then tied the game with a layup with 43 seconds left.

On the ensuing possession, Moncrief corralled the defensive rebound, and Cranford attempted a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left and was fouled on the play. The NEC Rookie of the Year then stepped to the line and made all three freebies to give the Frankies a three-point lead. 

Reminensent of the last time a No. 3 seed beat a No. 2 seed with Cranford taking the role of Keith Braxton in a much less dramatic fashion. Braxton hit a game-winning 3-pointer at Wagner on March 4, 2017, for a 71-70 win for the Red Flash. Like Cranford, Braxton was the NEC Rookie of the Year that season.

The Sharks then threw a baseball pass to the offensive end of the floor, and Moncrief knocked the ball out of bounds with 0.9 seconds left. A desperation heave by LIU as time expired fell short to send Saint Francis back to the NEC title bout.

FLASH QUOTES
"They had our number in the first half. Thankfully, we played two halves of basketball because, quite frankly, we were soft during the first half. The stretch to start the second half was important. We knew that there was no 20-point play to get us back in the game. We just had to chip away and play 20 minutes of basketball. And fortunately, we got off to a great start. We have guys who are too talented and play basketball with each other to understand how to get shots, but it was going to come down to keeping the floor tight when a shot went up, making sure that we limited them to one shot. We did a much better job of that in the second half, but what a tremendous job! We got the stop we needed, and Chris hit a big shot to tie it. Got the stop that we needed. Juan then made three big free throws for us." - Rob Krimmel on the game

"We've been battle-tested the whole season, even going back to our first preseason game. Just fight until the very end and leave it all out there. That's all we can ask for. That's all we did today: stack plays, stack stops together, and float offensively. And the team did an excellent job to respond tonight after that first half." - Riley Parker on being battle-tested

"We've got two excellent defenders. Daemar and Wisler are absolute dogs, and they love to play defense. And they grabbed that challenge and grabbed it with both hands, and a lot of that win comes down to those two defensive efforts against LIU." - Parker on defense

"This group has embraced the journey as well as well as any team I've coached. And there's a belief in that locker room, not an arrogance. They've been through enough to show that they can play composed. We are promised 40 more minutes of basketball. We will play some tough games, and they will come down to the last four minutes. The margin for error and the talent gap are very slim, so you have to make sure that you control what you keep for 40 minutes. Over an entire year, you need a group of players to buy in, and these guys have embraced each step along the way." - Krimmel on the journey this season