SHU Looks to Build Momentum at St. Francis Brooklyn
1/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sacred Heart (3-13, 2-3 NEC) at St. Francis Brooklyn (6-12, 2-3 NEC)
Saturday, January 16, 2016 - 4:00 pm - Pope Physical Education Center (1,200) - Brooklyn, N.Y.
Video | Live Stats | Game Notes
Sacred Heart looks to build off the momentum of Thursday's overtime victory over Central Connecticut State, as it heads to Brooklyn on Saturday to take on St. Francis at 4 pm.
Scouting St. Francis Brooklyn... St. Francis Brooklyn was on the other side of a late game-winner on Thursday, falling 61-59 at Bryant. The loss snapped a two game winning streak, droppinog the Terriers to 6-12 overall to put them in a tie for sixth in the NEC with Sacred Heart and LIU Brooklyn at 2-3. Although SFBK is at the bottom of the NEC, scoring 62.9 points per game on 38.1 percent shooting, they are in the top four holding opponent's to just 67.4 points on 44.8 percent from the field. That includes blocking a conference-high 4.8 shots per game, led by Chris Hooper and Amdy Fall, who rank second and third, respectively, with averages of 1.7 and 1.6 rejections per contest. They are also top three in the NEC in rebounding average, rebounding defense and rebounding margin, with four players in the top 20 of the conference, led by Fall's 6.8 per game. Tyreek Jewell paces the offensive attack, scoring 12.8 points per game. Hooper adds 10.3 points and is second in the league, shooting 58.6 percent. Yunus Hopkinson averages a team-high 2.8 assists, good for tenth in the league, and also ranks in the top ten in free throw percentage and three-pointers per contest.
Common Opponents.... Sacred Heart and St. Francis Brooklyn played two common opponents in non-conference:
Sacred Heart Opponent SFBK
L, 80-71 Hartford W, 74-67
L, 90-86 Lafayette W, 69-62
Series History... The series dates back to Sacred Heart's Division II playing days, as the two teams met for the first time on December 11, 1997, with St. Francis Brooklyn prevailing 76-61. Sweeping the season series in each of the last two years to extend its winning streak in the series to five, including eight of the past nine, St. Francis Brooklyn now leads the all-time series 19-9. The Pioneers have had most of their success against the Terriers at the William H. Pitt Center, going 6-7 and splitting the last eight matchups in Fairfield. SFBK has been dominant on its home court, winning 12 of 15, including the first seven meetings. SHU's best stretch against the Terriers was a four game winning streak from 2008-10, while St. Francis Brooklyn will look to match the six straight it won from 2003-06.
Last Meeting… Cane Broome (East Hartford, Conn.), Evan Kelley (Norwalk, Conn.) and Jordan Allen (Bayshore, N.Y.) led the Pioneers tallying 12 points each, as Sacred Heart fell to St. Francis Brooklyn 71-62 in the Pope Physical Education Center on February 14 of last season. The Pioneers owned a 35-28 lead less than a minute before the half, but Gunnar Olafsson got off a triple at the buzzer making it a four-point game at the half before a 9-2 run to open the second half saw SFBK reclaim the lead, 40-37, in the first two and a half minutes. SHU chipped away at the lead, making both shots of the one-and-one, Kelley made it a one-possession game, 60-57, at the five-minute mark but St. Francis Brooklyn quickly responded with four unanswered points to take control.
Career Numbers vs. St. Francis Brooklyn...
NAME (GP-GS) PPG RPG APG MPG
Tevin Falzon (4-2) 7.8 5.0 0.5 24.0
Cane Broome (2-2) 12.5 1.5 1.0 32.5
Jordan Allen (2-0) 11.5 6.0 - 24.5
Filip Nowicki (2-0) 5.0 4.5 1.0 15.5
Rare Road Success... Sacred Heart comes into the game winning two of their previous three games on the road against Robert Morris and Central Connecticut State. Prior to the win over RMU, the Pioneers had lost 11 straight road games.
-SHU is looking for its first two-game road winning streak since December and January of the 2011-12 season.
-The last time the Pioneers won three road games in January was 2011.
Starting Five... With Tevin Falzon returning to the starting lineup on Thursday, the five SHU starters, Cane Broome, Quincy McKnight, Jordan Allen, Sean Hoehn and Falzon, were the five Pioneers who have started the most games this season. That being said, it was only the second time the five have started together, the other time being at Northwestern.
Pioneer Points…
- Cane Broome responded from his third lowest scoring game of the season, 11 points against Wagner, with a game-high 24 points at Central Connecticut State on Thursday.
- Quincy McKnight scored the game-winner with .2 seconds remaining on, capping a performance in which he bounced back from just his third single digit scoring performance of the season against Wagner with 17 points and a career-high nine rebounds, one rebound shy of his first career double double in a career-high 41 minutes.
- Playing against his favorite opponent on Thursday, Tevin Falzon stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points and season-highs of 14 rebounds and four blocks. He made a career-best 10-10 from the line, becoming the first Pioneer to make a perfect 10-10 at the line since Louis Montes did so at Brown on November 29, 2012.
- Jordan Allen's game-tying layup on an out of bounds play with two seconds remaining sent Thursday's game to overtime.
- Sean Hoehn dished out a season-high four assists for a third time this season on Thursday.
- Eyimofe Edukugho is shooting 62.5 percent in conference play, good for third in the league.
