CHICAGO -- A closing second-half scoring surge by Saint Xavier University put a damper to the end of a very successful regular season for the University of St. Francis men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon at the Shannon Center.  The 70-54 loss for the Fighting Saints was just the fifth overall of their season and fourth in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference action.

The Saints (22-5, 16-4 CCAC) came into Saturday afternoon's contest holding a one-game advantage over Indiana University Northwest for the league lead, but, by day's end, the two teams shared the conference crown following USF's loss and IUN's victory earlier in the day.  St. Francis, fortunately, owns the tie-breaker based on a points-ranking system, which solidified USF's automatic berth to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round in March.

As a result of keeping their top-seeded placement via the tie-breaker, the Saints will host eighth-seeded St. Ambrose University on Tuesday to begin CCAC Tournament play.

On Saturday, the Saints' 54 points and Saint Xavier's 70 markers were the lowest offensive outputs of the season for both clubs.  USF's 37.5 percent shooting mark from the field was also its lowest of the season.  After shooting better than 75 percent from the free-throw line during the majority of the season, the Saints also closed out their campaign converting less than that mark with a 64.3 percent showing in Saturday's contest.

The Cougars (19-9, 14-6) rallied for the 16-point victory after a 37-37 tie midway through the second half was broken by a scoring surge that included a barrage of long-range buckets by the hosts.  After going 2-for-12 on three-point attempts in the first half, Saint Xavier went 7-for-12 from that range after the intermission.  USF was just 3-for-12 from beyond the arc in the closing 20 minutes.

Both teams struggled to find their offensive grooves throughout the opening half.  USF's first two points of the game did not come until the 13:59 mark after Saint Xavier jumped out to a 10-0 lead.  Five missed shots and two turnovers, however, from the Cougars over the next four minutes allowed the Saints to take their first lead of the afternoon (11-10) midway through the frame.  By the six-minute mark, Saint Xavier held a four-point advantage (17-13) with the hosts going 5-for-20 from the field with five turnovers up to that point and St. Francis going 3-for-14 with six turnovers.  The remaining six minutes fared much better for each squad with the Saints closing out the half going 6-of-8 from the field (75 pct.) to SXU's 3-of-5 reading (60.0 pct.) that resulted in a 27-27 tie.

Neither team would hold more than a three-point lead over the first 10 minutes of the second half before four straight three-pointers along with two successful free throws fueled a 14-0 SXU scoring run that proved to be the back breaker for the Saints.  That lead would eventually get as high as 19 points (70-51) before a Nick Niego three-pointer on the Saints' last possession closed the game out at 70-54.  USF managed only four field goals in the closing 10 minutes to go along with seven free throws. 

St. Francis was led by Joffrey Nunnally's 13 points and six rebounds from Ben Faatz.

Andre Brandon's 14 points earned him game-high scoring honors for the Cougars.

Up Next
St. Francis will host St. Ambrose on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in the first round of the CCAC Tournament.  Game time is slated for 7 pm.

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