BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY – The St. Francis Brooklyn men's basketball team (17-14, 9-9 NEC) was edged by Mount St. Mary's (9-22, 6-13 NEC), 73-71, in a tight contest to close out the regular season on Senior Day. As a result, the Terriers have claimed the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament and will travel to Moon Township, PA to face the No. 4 seed Robert Morris in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 6.
The Terriers finished the regular season with 17 wins, their most since they tied a program record with 23 victories during the 2014-15 season. They went 11-3 at home this season. The 11 home wins were tied with Fairleigh Dickinson and Robert Morris for the most in the league.
St. Francis Brooklyn picked up where they left off on Thursday night as they shot 46.7 percent from the floor and 53.3 percent from behind the arc (8-of-15). Sophomore guard
Jalen Jordan led all scorers with 11 points in the first half on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor and went a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range. Senior guard
Keon Williams, junior guard
Rosel Hurley, and junior forward
Deniz Celen each chipped in with six points apiece.
After the first half of play, the Terriers controlled a 39-23 lead over the Mountaineers. St. Francis Brooklyn led by as many as 18 points in the opening frame as it has seven different players tally points.
This contest was a tale of two halves as Mount cut the Terriers' 16-point halftime lead to single-digits at the 16:07 mark in the half. The Mountaineers put forth an explosive offensive attack as they shot 51.9 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from three (8-of-13 in the second half. Three-point shooting proved to be the difference in the contest. The Terriers limited the Mountaineers to just 1-of-6 shooting from behind the arc in the first half. The Mount registered eight made threes in the second stanza as freshman guard Vado Morse knocked down three of them.
The Mountaineers outscored the Terriers 50-32 in the second half as Morse finished with a game-high 23 points and Malik Jefferson tallied 20 points and seven rebounds. Terriers' junior guard
Rosel Hurley provided a jolt of offense in the second half as he scored 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He recorded a team-high 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor.
St. Francis Brooklyn had a last-second chance to either tie or win the ball game. With 4.2 to play in the contest, the Terriers set up a play for
Chauncey Hawkins on a side out-of-bounds. The guard rose from behind the arc and fired a shot that went in and out as time expired.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
St. Francis Brooklyn – 71 | Mount St. Mary's – 73
- Hurley finished with 16 points, five rebounds, and three assists in 28 minutes of play. It was the 14th time this season that the guard scored in double figures and the first time since he scored a career-high of 20 points on February 20, against Central Connecticut.
- Hawkins came off the bench to score 13 points, grabbed a career-high six rebounds, and dished out three assists.
- Junior forward Deniz Celen added 12 points, five rebounds, and three assists in 33 minutes of action. He shot an efficient 6-of-8 from the floor and scored in double figures for the 12th time this season.
- Jordan recorded 11 points as he did all of his scorings in the first half of play. He shot 3-of-9 from the field and 3-of-7 from three.
- Before the game, St. Francis Brooklyn honored a pair of seniors in Glenn Sanabria and Keon Williams who played in their final regular-season games this afternoon.
- Sanabria scored six points to increase his career points total to 1,327 as he sits in 13th place on the Terriers' all-time scoring list.
- Williams registered eight points and grabbed four rebounds as he earned his fourth start of the season.
UP NEXT:
The Terriers travel up to Moon Township, PA to take on No. 4 seed Robert Morris in the quarterfinals of the 2019 NEC Tournament. It marks the third meeting of the season against the Colonials, who have taken both prior meetings. It will be the first time that the teams have gone head-to-head in the NEC Tournament since the 2015 NEC Championship game.
