Greg Brown (Odenton, Md./Archbishop Spalding) scored 15 points and Ronnie Drinnon (Jamestown, Ohio/Greenview) added 13 points and seven rebounds, but the Saint Francis men’s basketball team lost at Wagner, 69-54, on Thursday night at Spiro Sports Center. With the win, Wagner clinched the Northeast Conference regular season championship and home-court advantage throughout the NEC Tournament.
The Seahawks (19-9, 12-5) jumped on Saint Francis early. Wagner used an early 12-2 run to jump out to a 17-6 lead with 12:16 left in the first half. Three free throws from Corey Henson with 8:32 left pushed the lead to its biggest in the first half, 30-12.
Brown helped the Red Flash (13-15, 9-8) get back into the game. He scored seven straight SFU points in a little more than two minutes to cut the lead to 34-23 on his layup with 4:10 left. Saint Francis cut the deficit back into single digits with five straight points that included scores from Ben Millaud-Meunier (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier) and Basil Thompson (Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter). Drinnon hit two free throws with eight seconds left to send SFU into the half trailing, 39-30.
Millaud-Meunier hit a three pointer to open the second half to cut the deficit to six, 39-33. That put the Flash on a 10-2 run and had the team at its closest to Wagner since it trailed 10-4 just over three minutes into action. While it had the makings of another classic comeback that SFU had already had twice against Bryant, the Seahawks put an end to it with six straight points as part of a 22-8 stretch in nine minutes. Mike Aaman’s layup with 9:08 left gave Wagner its biggest lead of the night, 61-41, with 9:07 left.
Saint Francis will again look for its 10th Northeast Conference win in the regular season finale at Sacred Heart. It would be SFU’s first 10-win NEC season since 2004-05. In a muddled NEC Tournament field, Saint Francis is currently tied with LIU Brooklyn for sixth place. Four teams are a game ahead of the Red Flash and Blackbirds, including Sacred Heart. Saturday’s game begins at 3:30 p.m.