Published: December 05, 2008 09:04 am      

Flash stumble in NEC opener, fall at home

LORETTO — With two consecutive road wins and victories in three of the past four games, the St. Francis University men’s basketball team brought high expectations into Thursday’s Northeast Conference opener.

But Long Island University departed DeGol Arena with a 73-58 win and, as coach St. Francis coach Don Friday put it, more than a figurative handful of the Red Flash’s candy.

“They took our candy,” Friday said after his team fell to 3-5 overall, 0-1 in the conference. “You know on Halloween, the guy that you don’t want to steal your bag? Well, they got 15 bags tonight.”

Long Island’s inside game was too much for St. Francis. The Blackbirds (2-3, 1-0 NEC) outrebounded the Flash, 40-29, with 15 offensive boards and a 26-8 advantage in second-chance points.

“We came in very, very hungry,” LIU coach Jim Ferry said, perhaps inadvertently falling in line with the “candy” theme.

“We are a very good offensive rebounding team,” he added. “We were smaller than them, but I think we had a little bit more quickness than them. We chased the ball.”

St. Francis held an early five-point advantage, but the Blackbirds had runs of 7-0 and 8-0 to lead by 12 late in the first half. A 14-0 run early in the second half put the game out of reach.

“I’m thoroughly disappointed with the way we played defensively, specifically on the glass as it pertained to offensive rebounds for Long Island,” Friday said. “They drove the basket. They attacked the glass. They won this battle.”

LIU’s Kyle Johnson had 17 points to lead four Blackbirds in double digit scoring. Ron Manigault had 12 rebounds.

Devin Sweetney paced St. Francis with 13 points, followed by Marquis Ford (12) and Mislav Jukic (10).

Friday said the Flash will move on. He pointed to wins at Morgan State (65-61) and Youngstown State (66-65), and a home victory over Bucknell (69-59 OT) as signs of progress.

Ford agreed.

“No disrespect to (former) coach (Bobby) Jones, but with the new coach came a new philosophy and a new attitude,” Ford said of Friday. “He brought it. We accepted it. Some of the stuff is hard to pick up, but we’re trying our hardest. We’re picking up everything fast.

“Everybody comes to practice energized and ready. We’re coming to compete. We had a two-game winning streak on the road. We realize we are capable of winning. The guys are ready to build and make a foundation for something real big.”

The Flash will turn their attention to St. Francis (N.Y.) for a noon home game Saturday.

“We’ve got to learn from this, focus and come out at practice and get better,” Jukic said. “We’ve got to get ready for St. Francis (N.Y.). We’ve got to be thinking about winning the next game. We can’t worry about losing. We lost this one. We’ve got to close this book, open a new page and move on.”