Red Flash Stumble Against Fairleigh Dickinson At DeGol Arena
LORETTO, Pa. (Feb. 9, 2008) – Redshirt sophomore Devin Sweetney (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) had a team high 14 points and 8 rebounds, but Fairleigh Dickinson stiffened it’s second half defense to defeat the Saint Francis men’s basketball team 79-61 on Saturday night at DeGol Arena.
The Knights shot 56.5 percent from the field in the second half, while the Red Flash struggled by making just 10-of-30 field goal attempts in the final 20 minutes. Saint Francis also struggled at the foul line where it made just 15-of-28 attempts.
The Red Flash dropped to 5-18 overall, and 3-9 in the Northeast Conference. They will be back in action at 7 p.m. Thursday when they travel to St. Francis-NY for another pivotal conference contest.
For the second straight game, Saint Francis fell behind early. The Red Flash made just two of their first 12 shots from the field, while Fairleigh Dickinson connected on 7-of-14 to jump out to a 20-7 lead seven minutes into the game.
Trailing 33-14 with 5:41 remaining in the first half, Saint Francis went on 7-0 run and finished the first frame on a 16-3 run to pull within 36-30 at the break.
But the Red Flash couldn’t carry that momentum into the second half as the Knights opened the final 20 minutes on a 13-2 run to put SFU down 49-32 with 15:16 to play. Saint Francis got as close as 14 points, but never recovered as FDU pulled away for the victory.
Junior Chris Berry (Seagoville, Texas / Seagoville) had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, redshirt junior Cale Nelson (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) tied a career high with 9 assists to go with no turnovers, and redshirt junior Bassirou Dieng (Dakar, Senegal / Riverdale Baptist) added 9 points and 6 rebounds. Sophomore Kurt Hoffman (Johnstown, Pa. / Johnstown) added 7 points and 2 steals, and junior Steve Profeta (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) dished out 6 points and 2 assists, both coming off the bench.
Bernell Murray had 21 points and 4 assists, and Eric Hazard added 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Knights.