WHITING, Ind. --- The University of St. Francis men's basketball team picked the perfect time to author its longest winning streak of the season, scoring its third straight victory to move into playoff position with an 87-76 decision over Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Calumet College of St. Joseph on Wednesday night.

The win put USF (9-15, 8-11 CCAC) in a two-way tie with the Crimson Wave (10-16, 8-11) for the eighth and final spot in next week's CCAC Tournament with the Saints holding the tie-breaker on head-to-head competition.

A win by St. Francis on Saturday in the regular-season finale at home against Saint Xavier University or a loss by Calumet St. Joseph at home against Olivet Nazarene University on the same day and at the same time (3 pm) locks up USF's bid to the postseason.

On Wednesday, head coach Ryan Marks' club again used its latest recipe for success by shooting better than 50 percent from the field for the third time in five games (all wins) with its .551 accuracy reading (27-of-49).  Included was one stretch where the Saints converted on 7-of-10 shots. 

It was that 5:20 time span in which the guests turned a 32-27 lead into a 46-29 advantage before settling for a 47-34 lead at the break.  Four of the five starters contributed at least one field goal in that time with EJ Charles, Rahmel Davis and Te Jones each scoring a pair of baskets.

The Saints would get the lead as high as 20 points in the second half (56-36) before the Crimson Wave would make things interesting down the stretch.  Employing a full-court press later in the game, the hosts pulled to within seven points twice in the closing 2:13 before time ran out.

Fortunately for USF, despite turning the ball over 21 times in the second half after only six miscues in the opening 20 minutes, it maintained its shooting touch by elevating to .556 (10-of-18) after the break from .548 (17-of-31) in the opening half.

Davis had another big game for USF, scoring 26 points and grabbing seven rebounds on this night.  He went 8-for-13 from the field and 10-of-11 at the foul line with 16 of his points coming after halftime.

Charles chose the perfect night to record his first double-double of the year, as well.  He registered 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Jones rounded out the scoring trio with his 11 points.

Reginald Loury and Joshua Morris tied for team-high scoring honors for CCSJ with 13 points each.

Notes: Over the past five games, the Saints have averaged 81.8 points per contest compared to 68.9 points over the first 19 games of the season … They are also 5-0 overall when converting at better than a 50 percent clip like they did on Wednesday … St. Francis' 63.6 percent mark from three-point range (7-of-11) was its best number from beyond the arc this year … Davis has produced 20-or-more points seven times during his current streak of 11 straight games scoring in double figures … Jones has hit the 10-point plateau in five consecutive games … Davis' ten free throws made tied a season high for the team … Wednesday marked the eighth time this season that USF held an opponent under 40 percent shooting for the game.  CCSJ finished at 39.7 percent … St. Francis' 27 turnovers were a season high as were its 33 free throws attempted.      
 
Links to live coverage can be found at gofightingsaints.com/coverage. You can also keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on Twitter @USFSaints.