BOURBONNAIS, Ill. --- The University of St. Francis men's basketball team opened up its Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup versus Olivet Nazarene University on a tear Saturday afternoon, shooting nearly 60 percent from the field over the first 22 minutes, but the host Tigers answered with a 71 percent reading in the final 18 minutes to claim a 78-65 victory at McHie Arena.

USF, which hit 17 of its 29 first-half shots from the field (58.6 pct.) to take a 41-35 advantage into the break, opened the second half scoring the first five points to build its biggest lead of the afternoon at 46-35 with 18:01 remaining.  Rahmel Davis was a big key to the early success making four of his first five shots, including a pair of three-pointers.

Olivet Nazarene (15-6, 9-4 CCAC) was able to stay with the Saints in the opening 20 minutes by shooting 50 percent from the field (14-of-28) with five treys in 11 attempts.  The Tigers, after missing their first three shots out of the break, connected on just about everything the rest of the way.  They would go 15-of-21 (71.4 pct.) with four three-pointers in six attempts over the closing 18 minutes to outscore USF 43-19.

Despite struggling down the stretch – hitting on just seven of their final 25 field goal attempts (28 pct.) – the Saints still held the lead for the first 28 minutes of the contest and trailed by only four points, 64-60, with just over four minutes remaining in the affair.  Olivet Nazarene, however, would go on to score 14 of the game's final 19 points to gain the 13-point win.

ONU's shooting marks from both the field (55.8 pct.) and beyond the arc (50 pct.) were the second-highest figures recorded by a Saint opponent this season.  The Tigers also converted on 11-of-13 free throws (84.6 pct.). 

St. Francis (5-14, 4-10) finished at 44.8 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from three-point range and just 50 percent at the foul line.       

Davis was one of two Saints to reach double figures in the scoring column, finishing with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting and a pair of three-pointers.  Shir Moraidi provided another 13 points, while Connor Casper added eight points and four rebounds.

Olivet Nazarene had four of its five starters contribute at least 12 points topped by Tyler Schmidt's game-high 21 points and seven rebounds.

Notes: Davis has now scored ten-or-more points in six straight games, four of which have netted at least 20 points … The Saints did another solid job of handling the ball, committing just eight turnovers for the second game in a row.  Their season low is seven done twice this year … USF hosts both Holy Cross College (Wed., 7 pm) and Roosevelt University (Sat., 3 pm) this coming week.

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