FAIRFIELD, Conn. – If nothing else, the Sacred Heart University men's basketball team is consistent. For the fourth time this season, the Pioneers dropped game one of their Northeast Conference series only to come back and win the second contest. SHU built a large second-half lead then hit free throws down the stretch to defeat St. Francis University, 80-72, on Friday.

Records:
St. Francis: 3-8, 2-5 NEC
Sacred Heart: 5-5, 5-4 NEC

Top Performers:
Aaron Clarke (SHU): 23 points
Tyler Thomas (SHU): 19 points, 4 rebounds 
Ramiir Dixon-Conover (SFU): 18 points, 8 rebounds

Up Next:
Sacred Heart is on the road next weekend when it travels to Mount St. Mary's for a pair of contests.

Of Note:
Compared to Thursday's second half, it was a different Sacred Heart team in the opening 20 minutes. Alex Watson threw a perfect baseball pass to Matas Spokas who laid it in to put SHU up 23-17 at the 7:45 mark. 

The lead grew to 29-17 on an Aaron Clarke three pointer and SHU took a 35-24 lead into the half. The Pioneers shot 48.3 percent while limiting the Red Flash to 34.5 percent.

The Pioneers continued to shoot well in the first 10 minutes of the second half. A Tyler Thomas three pushed the lead to 50-34 then Mike Sixsmith's three ball at the 10:39 mark put SHU up 56-37. A combination of poor shooting and a full-court press by SFU allowed the visitors to narrow the lead to 58-51 with 7:52 left on a Ramir Dixon-Conover bucket.

Unlike game one, Sacred Heart was able to stop SFU's momentum as Sixsmith converted a three-point play and Thomas made a layup to push the margin back to 63-51. Mark Flagg's dunk cut the advantage to 69-63 with 4:53 to play, but Clarke and Thomas responded with a pair of layups and the Pioneers made their free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Topping all players was Clarke with 23 points – one off his career-high – including 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Thomas was next with 19 points and Sixsmith added nine points and six assists.

Sacred Heart shot a season-high 50 percent from the floor while hitting 18-of-25 (72%) from the free throw line. The Pioneers scored 23 points on the fast break while also getting 40 points in the paint.

Dixon-Conover was one of four Red Flash players in double digits with his team-high 18 points. Maxwell Land followed with 12 points and Ronell Giles Jr. added 11.