THE MATCHUP:
St. Francis Brooklyn vs. Robert Morris
Saturday, February 23, at 5 p.m.
Moon Township, PA
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The Terriers conclude their Western Pennsylvania trip on Saturday, February 21, when they face Robert Morris (14-14, 9-6 NEC). With a win, the Terriers would clinch their second-straight berth into the NEC Tournament. St. Francis Brooklyn also could secure a spot in the postseason conference tournament with losses from Central Connecticut and Mount St. Mary's on Saturday. The Terriers are coming off of an 81-71 defeat against Saint Francis (PA) on Thursday in their first leg of the annual Western Pennsylvania trip. Robert Morris is coming off of its 14
th win of the season and ninth in league play with a 62-49 victory over LIU Brooklyn on Saturday. The Colonials joined Saint Francis (PA) and Fairleigh Dickinson as the first three teams to clinch berths into the NEC Tournament.
ALL-TIME SERIES:
St. Francis Brooklyn is 30-47 all-time against Robert Morris as the teams are set to meet for the 78th time in history. The Colonials earned a win in the first meeting between the teams on January 10, in a game that aired on CBS Sports Network. Robert Morris picked up a narrow, 52-49, win over the Terriers back in January.
Jalen Jordan poured in a game-high 16 points for the Terriers, while
Glenn Sanabria added 15 points and four rebounds. The Terriers and Colonials split the series last season. Under coach Braica, the Terriers are 7-10 against Robert Morris and 3-5 in Moon Township. The Terriers and Colonials met in the 2015 NEC Championship game, which saw Robert Morris come out with a 66-63 victory.
Glenn Sanabria is the only player on either current roster that participated in the 2015 NEC Championship game. As a then-freshman, Sanabria scored 10 points in 21 minutes of play.
SCOUTING THE COLONIALS:
The Colonials are coming off a 62-49 victory over LIU Brooklyn on Thursday and became one of three teams to clinch a berth in the 2019 NEC Tournament. Robert Morris is 2-3 over its last five games and snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over the Blackbirds. Robert Morris has been led this season by Josh Williams, the team's leading scorer, who is averaging 14.1 points per game. Williams leads the NEC in made threes (84) and three-pointers made per game (3.0). Malik Petteway is averaging 10.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game off the bench for the Colonials. One of the Colonials' leaders is senior guard Matty McConnell who has tallied 9.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game.
LAST TIME OUT:
St. Francis Brooklyn was edged by Saint Francis (PA) (15-11, 11-4 NEC), 81-71, on Thursday night in Loretto. The Terriers fought from behind after trailing by as many as 20 points in the contest. They were able to cut Saint Francis' lead to single-digits with less than three minutes to play in the second half but were unable to overcome the early deficit.
Chauncey Hawkins led the Terriers with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor off the bench. All 16 of Hawkins' points came in the second half of play.
Jalen Jordan registered 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and went 1-of-3 from behind the arc. He grabbed three rebounds and swiped a career-high tying three steals in 30 minutes of action.
TRAVELING TERRIERS:
The Terriers are 6-9 in 15 road games this season and won three-straight road contests (Nov. 18-28) before falling at NJIT on December 8. With the six wins on the road, the Terriers have surpassed their 2017-18 total. The six road victories are tied for the most for the Terriers since the 2015-16 season when they also posted six wins away from the Pope Physical Education Center. The Terriers are tied for the most road wins in the NEC this season.
SANABRIA EARNS WEEKLY HONORS:
Graduate guard
Glenn Sanabria took home a slew of weekly honors after leading the Terriers to a pair of wins last week. The guard was named the NEC Co-Player of the Week, College Sports Madness Player of the Week, and was an honorable mention by the Met Writers Basketball Association in its weekly awards announcement. He poured in 21.0 points per game on 57.7 percent shooting from the field and 61.5 percent shooting from three in wins over LIU Brooklyn and Central Connecticut State. He added 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 3.0 steals per game. Sanabria was named the 2019 Battle of Brooklyn MVP on February 14.
DEFENDING THE ARC:
The Terriers have been one of the toughest teams in the nation to shoot the three-ball against. Opponents are shooting just 30.1 percent from deep, which is the 23rd-lowest mark in the NCAA. Through 15 conference games, the Terriers have held opponents to only 29.8 percent shooting from behind the arc which is the lowest mark in the league.
NEC RANKINGS:
The Terriers have allowed the third-fewest points per game (70.1 ppg), and are tied for the third-best scoring margin (+1.3) in the NEC this season. St. Francis Brooklyn is the second-toughest team in the conference to shoot against, opposing teams are just shooting 42.7 percent from the field against the Terriers. Opposing teams are shooting only 30.1 percent from behind the arc which is the lowest mark in the conference. St. Francis Brooklyn is the fifth-best rebounding team (36.6 rpg). The Terriers are the third-best defensive rebounding team in the conference averaging 25.9 per game. As a team, the Terriers are blocking 4.1 shots per game and have swatted away 116 shots. They are second in the league in both blocks and tied for second blocks per game. They are tied for first in the league in threes per game (8.1) and have the most makes from deep (228).
Jalen Jordan is ninth in the NEC in scoring (15.4 ppg), Sanabria (12.7 ppg) is 17th, and Hawkins (11.6 ppg) ranks tied for 24th. Jordan is shooting 42.2 percent from three, which is tied for the third-best mark in the league. He has knocked down 79 threes and is averaging 2.8 makes from behind the arc per game. The guard ranks second in the league in both made threes per game and total three-pointers.
Deniz Celen and
Rosel Hurley cracked the top 15 in field goal percentage. Celen is tied for ninth with a 50.0 field goal percentage while Hurley ranks 11th in the league at 49.5 percent.
NON-CONFERENCE NOTABLES:
The eight non-conference wins were the most for the Terriers since they posted nine during the 2013-14 season. The Terriers went 5-0 at home during non-conference play. St. Francis Brooklyn recorded the most non-conference wins in the NEC, the most home wins (five), were tied for the most road wins (three), had the most wins by 10 or more points (five), and were the only team over .500. The Terriers were on a three-game winning streak from November 24 to December 3. It was the longest winning streak for the Terriers since they won four-straight (Feb. 18-27) to close out the 2015-16 season.
GS1K:
Graduate guard
Glenn Sanabria scored his 1,000th career point in a win over Niagara on November 24. Sanabria became the 32nd player to join the Terriers' 1,000-point club and the first since Brent Jones did so on February 5, 2015, against Central Connecticut. He currently is in 14th place on the Terriers' all-time scoring list with 1,297 points after he surpassed Lou Myers who had 1,259 career points. Sanabria is now chasing Anthony D'Elia in 13th place on the scoring list with 1,304 points.
TERRIERS COACHING RECORDS:
St. Francis Brooklyn men's basketball head coach
Glenn Braica passed Rody Cooney for third place on the program's all-time wins list for victories by a head coach. Braica has compiled 131 wins over his nine seasons on Remsen Street. Braica is just one of four Terriers' head coaches to win over 100 games in their career.
NEC COACHING VETERANS:
Head coach
Glenn Braica and Robert Morris' head coach Andrew Toole are the two longest-tenured head coaches in the NEC as they both took over their respective programs before the 2010-11 season. Toole is the active leader for wins at an NEC institution with 164, Braica is right behind Toole in second with 131. LIU Brooklyn's Derek Kellogg has the most career wins of any coach in the NEC with 185 (nine years at UMass, two years at LIU Brooklyn).
TERRIERS INK QUARTLEBAUM:
On November 16, St. Francis Brooklyn men's basketball announced the signing of Trey Quartlebaum. Quartlebaum is a 6-foot-1, 170-pound guard from Lawrence, KS and attends Lawrence High School. He is originally from Dobbs Ferry, NY and plays AAU ball for KC Run GMC. The guard averaged 13.0 points per game during his junior year at Lawrence and was a Kansas 6A All-State Honorable Mention.
UP NEXT:
The Terriers return to the Pope Physical Education Center for their final two regular season games of the 2018-19 season. On Thursday, February 28, St. Francis Brooklyn goes head-to-head with Bryant at 7 p.m. The regular season finale is slated for Saturday, March 2, when the Terriers take on Mount St. Mary's on Senior Day.
