JOLIET, Ill. --- For the first time this season, there was no need for an extra period as the University of St. Francis men's basketball team used a big second half to gain its first victory of the campaign with a 79-56 decision over United International College on Sunday afternoon.

The Saints (1-2) came into the contest off back-to-back overtime setbacks that were decided by two points each over the past four days. 

On Sunday, USF used a 64 percent shooting effort in the second half (16-of-35), including six three-pointers in nine attempts, to outscore the Eagle Rays (2-4) 45-26 after the break and pull away for the 23-point win.

Head coach Ryan Marks' club began the contest with ten unanswered points in the opening three minutes before United International (2-4) could get on track.  The Eagle Rays eventually did late in the first half with an 11-0 run to take a 30-28 lead with just under three minutes to play before the break.  USF was able to recover by scoring the final six points of the half starting with Ibrahim Mobayed's traditional three-point play.

From there, the Saints slowly extended their advantage in the second half before using a 15-2 run to push the lead to 22 points (64-42) with just under ten minutes to play.  United International would never see the deficit dip below 20 points the rest of the afternoon.

Te Jones led the second-half charge, scoring 16 of his game-high 19 points after the intermission, where he also went 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.  For the game, he went 5-for-7 from long distance and 6-for-10 overall.

In all, 18 Saints got to see action, including Dakoda Joachim, who totaled 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds.  Rahmel Davis also scored in double figures for the first time with his 10 markers.

Nick Gravely led United International with 17 points.

The Saints also held a commanding 46-31 rebounding advantage.

Notes: Making their St. Francis debuts on Sunday were Connor Casper, Daniel Okogun, Lorenzo Aquino, Evan Hutcheson and Paolo Mondini-Branzi … Jones' 19 points and five three-pointers were both Saint season highs … Dakoda Joachim made the most of his first career start with season highs in points (14) and rebounds (eight) … For the third straight game, Davis had exactly five rebounds … USF returns to conference action on Wednesday when it hosts Trinity Christian College at 7 pm.        

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