JOLIET, Ill. --- A depleted University of St. Francis men's basketball team gave Marian University (Ind.) – among others receiving votes in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll – all it could handle before the Knights pulled away late for a 76-65 non-conference victory at the Pat Sullivan Center on Tuesday night.

Playing without starter EJ Charles, the Fighting Saints (2-4) battled back from a 13-point second-half deficit to get within one point, 60-59, with 8:12 remaining in the contest.  Rahmel Davis keyed the 16-4 surge by USF with eight of his team-high 16 points off the bench over the six-minute span of time. 

St. Francis also trailed by just two points at the five-minute mark before Marian outscored the Saints 9-0 the rest of the way.

Both teams converted at better than a 60 percent clip in the opening 20 minutes with Marian taking a 43-36 lead into the break.  MU was near-perfect inside the arc in the first half, going 14-for-16 (.875).  From the outside, the Knights were just 3-for-12, but still registered a .607 shooting mark overall in the opening period.  For the night, MU was 29-of-57 from the field (.509) and 13-of-14 at the foul line (.929).

The Saints produced their best first half of the season on Tuesday, converting at a .615 clip (16-of-26) with a 14-for-19 effort (.737) inside the three-point line and a 2-for-7 mark beyond it.  For the game, they hit 27 of their 54 attempts.

A 10-0 run early in the second half created Marian's biggest lead of the night at 56-43 with 14:04 to play before the Saints started their rally.

Besides, Davis, Don Joachim also came off the bench to record 11 points in his first contest in nine days.  Starter Ben Faatz provided 12 points and seven rebounds.

For Marian, the guard trio of Gus Etchison (game-high 24 points), Brody Whitaker (18) and Maximus Gizzi (16) accounted for 60 of the Knights' 76 points.

Notes: USF's last two opponents have combined to go 34-for-35 at the foul line … Both teams turned the ball over just nine times each with that mark being a season low for the Saints.  Marian, however, outscored USF 19-8 off turnovers, which accounted for the 11-point difference in the game … St. Francis did outscore the Knights 34-8 off the bench … Davis' 16 points tied a season high for him … The contest wrapped up a five-game homestand for the Saints, who return to conference play Saturday at Indiana University South Bend (2 pm).    

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