Box Score JOLIET, Ill. --- The University of St. Francis men's basketball team will have to play the waiting game before finding out if its season will be extended by an invitation to next week's Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament after the Saints closed out the regular season on Saturday with a 74-61 setback to Indiana University Northwest on Senior Day at the Sullivan Center.

USF entered the contest tied with St. Ambrose University for the eighth and final spot in the tournament and both teams lost on Saturday. St. Ambrose fell to Indiana University South Bend 87-77 leaving both teams at 10-12 in league play. The tie breaker is a scoring system that gives various value to wins and losses both home and on the road based on the opposition's winning percentage.

The final ratings will be confirmed on a conference call Sunday evening. The team that wins the tie-breaker for the No.8 seed will face top seeded Olivet Nazarene University Wednesday night at 7 pm in Bourbonnais.

As for Saturday, the Saints (14-13 overall) held the lead for much of the first half before Indiana Northwest (23-6) closed out the period on a 10-3 run to take its first lead (37-35) since the 14:38 mark. The RedHawks followed that up by opening the second half scoring 17 of the first 22 points in building a 54-40 advantage with 13:02 to play in the contest.

The Saints, however, did not give in despite the turnaround from the 32-27 lead to the 54-40 disadvantage. USF ripped off 14 of the next 17 points fueled by a pair of Carlos Tovias three pointers to make it a 57-54 game with 8:10 remaining.

That, however, would be the closest St. Francis would get in attempting to pull off the upset as Indiana Northwest regrouped to go back up by 12 points over the next seven minutes to put the game away.

The RedHawks used a .519-.250 shooting advantage in the second half to outscore the Saints 37-26 after the break. They would finish the contest at .475 (28-of-59) to USF's .339 report (20-of-59). The guests also won on three point shooting (.409-.241) and the boards (45-34). St. Francis was hurt by converting just 14 of its 23 free throw attempts (.609), as well.

Tovias and Bymnet Tecle were the only Saints to score at least 10 points, finishing with 12 and 11, respectively. Indiana Northwest countered with four players in double figures including Marshaud Watkins (14 points) and Damond Crosby (10 points, 10 rebounds). Brian Hernandez was also a key contributor off the bench with 11 of his 13 points and all three of his three-pointers coming after the break.

Six senior Saints were recognized before the contest. Those acknowledged were Tovias, Tecle, Matt Attard, Joey Buggemi, Lewis Holey, and Russell Tillery.