JOLIET, Ill. --- Aided by a 16-point swing in the second half, the University of St. Francis men's basketball team kept its perfect record at the Sullivan Center intact with a 70-60 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory over Holy Cross College on Saturday afternoon.  Winners of four in a row and 11 of their last 12 games, the Saints are now 6-0 at home on the season.

USF (11-2, 5-1 CCAC) jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in the game's first 2:30, while holding Holy Cross (5-8, 2-4) scoreless for a 6:34 span of time.  The guests misfired on each of their first ten shots before giving the bug to the Saints and rebounding with the next nine points. 

Shir Moraidi got St. Francis out of its 0-for-12 funk with his three-pointer to put USF back up 10-9.  Holy Cross, however, would remain hot, connecting on 11 of its final 18 shots of the half (61.1 pct.) to take a 32-27 lead into the break.

The visitors would extend the advantage as high as nine points on a pair of occasions early in the second half, including 38-29 with 17:15 remaining, before the Saints finally took off.  A three-pointer and a jumper on back-to-back possessions by Joffrey Nunnally would start an 18-2 run for St. Francis to put the hosts up for good 47-40. 

Rahmel Davis, who finished with a team-high 14 points, also had four key points in the run, and Sean Richardson (4 assists) hit a clutch three-pointer.  During the nearly five-minute hot streak, the Saints would connect on seven of their ten field goal attempts.

Holy Cross would eventually get the contest back to a one-possession game (57-55) with 4:36 to play before Aitor Anabitarte hit a sideline jumper and Delshawn Simms delivered another of five second-half three-pointers for the Saints.  From there, USF would hit all eight of its free-throw attempts in the closing 72 seconds to gain the ten-point victory.

After shooting just 34.5 percent (10-of-29) in the opening 20 minutes, the Saints hit at a 50 percent rate (14-of-28) after the break and also made good on 5-of-11 treys (45.5 pct.) and 10-of-11 free throws (90.9 pct.).

Defensively, St. Francis held Holy Cross to 37.1 percent shooting (23-of-62) with just three baskets from beyond the arc in 14 attempts (21.4 pct.).  The Saints also held a 41-33 rebounding edge with Anabitarte registering his second straight double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) and fifth of the season.

Holy Cross' Joey Garwood led all scorers with 18 points.     

Up Next
The Saints are on the road Wednesday to face Governors State University in another CCAC tilt beginning at 7:30 pm.

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