BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY – A scoreless drought midway through the first half was enough to sink the Sacred Heart University men's basketball team on Saturday. The Pioneers lost an 88-76 Northeast Conference contest at St. Francis College Brooklyn.

Records:
St. Francis Brooklyn: 8-8, 8-7 NEC
Sacred Heart: 7-7, 7-6 NEC

Top Performers:
Tyler Thomas (SHU): 29 points, 5 assists
Aaron Clarke (SHU): 19 points, 5 assists
Cantavio Dutreil (SHU); 10 points, 8 rebounds

Up Next:
The two teams wrap up the two-game set Sunday with a 2 pm tip.

Of Note:
Tyler Thomas canned a three-pointer at the 10:58 mark of the opening stanza to give the Pioneers a 23-21 advantage. It would be another two and half minutes before SHU scored again and that allowed the Terriers to build a 30-23 advantage.

Sacred Heart would only get within three the rest of the way and went into the locker room with a 41-35 deficit. 

The Pioneers had two good chances to get back into the game in the second half but couldn't complete the comeback. Mike Sixsmith made back-to-back three pointers to cut the margin to 56-52 then a pair of Thomas free throws sliced it to 73-67 with 6:18 to play but that's as close as the game would get.

Just missing his second 30-point game of the season was Thomas as he poured in 29 points with five assists. Aaron Clarke followed with 19 and Cantavio Dutreil nearly had a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Sacred Heart could not slow down St. Francis Brooklyn's offensive attack as the hosts shot 52.4 percent and made nine three-pointers. The Terriers were very efficient in converting SHU miscues into points as they had 27 points off 14 Pioneer turnovers.