LORETTO, Pa. – Opening night at DeGol Arena was electric. Saint Francis battled Susquehanna University on Friday in an up-tempo game before falling 101-93.
Trey Weiand led the Red Wolves with 23 points and seven rebounds. Saint Francis forced 15 turnovers and piled up 22 second-chance points, but the River Hawks (1-0) shot 56.3 percent from the field.
"You can't fault the effort," head coach
Luke McConnell said. "I thought we played really hard. We talked about how we had to keep pushing, the dam is going to break at some point. But every time we got close, they just seemed to make a shot."
Giving up size across the floor, Saint Francis leaned on full-court pressure and hustle from the opening tip.
Carson Rhodes scored the Red Wolves' first basket to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Koy McGough's three-pointer gave Saint Francis its first lead at 7-4.
Both teams played a physical game, and the Red Wolves held the lead until Bryce Rollerson's three-pointer put Susquehanna up 14-13.
The River Hawks stretched the margin to 45-35 late in the first half and were looking to take that momentum into the locker room, but Saint Francis had an answer. Weiand scored a quick layup, then
Taurean Consiglio stole the ball, and finished the layup while drawing a foul. Saint Francis trailed 45-40 at the break.
Susquehanna came out of the locker room with a burst, building a 53-42 lead less than two minutes into the second half, but Saint Francis would again fight back. An 8-0 run cut the lead to 59-57.
The River Hawks answered with a Rollerson jumper and a KJ Carson three-pointer to push the lead back to seven. The Red Wolves got as close as six, at 88-82 with 5:09 to play, but never regained the lead.
Susquehanna's veteran guard play held up against the pressure defense. Carson finished with 21 points and seven rebounds, and Rollerson added 21 points and 10 rebounds. Mikey Cumbo led the River Hawks with 22 points off the bench.
"There's one thing to play hard, but it's got to be five guys connected," McConnell said. "Susquehanna is a really good team, they don't make many mistakes. We made too many mistakes defensively and they took advantage of that."
For Saint Francis, Consiglio filled the stat sheet with 15 points, five assists, three steals, two blocks and four offensive rebounds.
Jovany Philistin also scored 15, hitting three of his four three-point attempts, and
Jayden Smothers grabbed nine rebounds in just 13 minutes of play.
Rhodes also brought energy at both ends with 10 points on a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, plus five rebounds.
"Carson has been awesome for us," McConnell said of Rhodes. "He's playing out of position but does such a good job. When you talk about a guy who's got so much better from his freshman year, or even just this past spring, I can't think of a guy who has got better than him."
McConnell praised the home crowd and said the opener delivered the test he wanted. "The crowd was awesome. Everything you want in a college basketball game," he said. "We wanted to challenge ourselves and we certainly did."
