Red Flash Drop Heartbreaker in Final Seconds at St. Francis-NY
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y. – John Gooden completed a traditional 3-point play with 2.3 seconds remaining to turn a two-point Saint Francis lead into a 58-57 victory for St. Francis-NY in Northeast Conference men’s basketball action on Saturday afternoon at the Pope Center.
Junior Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Croatia / Life Center Academy) made 8-of-11 field goal attempts for a game-high 20 points to go with five rebounds for the Red Flash, while junior Devin Sweetney (Washington, D.C. / Riverdale Baptist) finished with 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Ricky Cadell scored nine points during a key stretch in the second half to lead the Terriers with 17 points and six assists, and Jamaal Womack finished with 13 points. Nigel Byam and Gooden each pulled down 11 rebounds.
Senior Cale Nelson (Newville, Pa. / Big Spring) made a pair of critical free throws with 11.2 seconds remaining in the game to give the Red Flash a 57-55 lead. With the game clock running down, St. Francis-NY got the ball to Gooden along the baseline and he drove to the basket for the layup to tie the game at 57-57. However, Jukic was called for a foul, and Gooden, who is a 60 percent free throw shooter, nailed his attempt to give the Terriers a one-point lead.
SFC head coach Brian Nash called timeout to set his defense up, while Red Flash head coach Don Friday set up a final play. SFU had a good look at the basket, but senior Marquis Ford (St. Petersburg, Fla. / St. Petersburg) had his game-winning attempt bounce off the front of the rim and high into the air, but came down outside of the cylinder to end the game.
Saint Francis shot 40.0 percent in the game, and finished with 14 assists and just six turnovers, the team’s best assist-to-turnover ratio in a game this season. The Red Flash had eight assists, and zero turnovers in the second half.
The Terriers took a 30-27 lead into halftime, and opened the second half on a 7-0 run. But the Red Flash answered with a 16-3 run in which SFU had key contributions from seniors Kyle Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Plainfield Central) and Grant Surprenant (Palatine, Ill. / Palatine). Surprenant hit a big 3-pointer and then had a steal and pass to Nelson for an easy layup to cut SFC’s lead to 42-40. Jackson then made a reverse layup and had a steal and another fastbreak layup to give the Red Flash their first lead of the game at 44-42 with 11:03 remaining.
The Terriers again gained the lead, but Sweetney made his first points of the game to tie it at 52-52, and Cadell answered with a 3-pointer to give them a 55-52 lead. Jukic made a layup and then sank 1-of-2 free throws to tie it at 55-55 to set up the final sequence.
Saint Francis will return to action 7 p.m. Thursday when Monmouth visits DeGol Arena.