JOLIET, Ill. -- A combined 43 points from Merrick Small and Joffrey Nunnally and a strong double-double from Damarcies Moore enabled the University of St. Francis men's basketball team to secure an 86-70 victory against Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Governors State University on Saturday afternoon at the Pat Sullivan Center.  The victory was the sixth in a row for the Fighting Saints.

The win over the Jaguars pitted the two teams in a three-way tie for first place in CCAC standings along with Olivet Nazarene University, who all now own a 12-4 league record with four conference games to go in the regular season.  The win also gave the Saints their 17th victory of the year against just six losses.

Small registered his sixth 20-plus point game of the season, netting 22 markers to go along with six rebounds and two blocked shots.  Nunnally, meanwhile, connected for a game-high three three-pointers as part of his 21 points, with Moore contributing another 11 with 12 rebounds.

Seven USF players in all tallied at least seven points topped by Small.  Dakoda Joachim led all players with four assists and two steals.

Governors State (16-8, 12-4 CCAC) countered with three players of their own hitting for at least 13 points, topped by Maxwell Marius' 20.

Neither team could pull away from the other at the onset with five tied scores and three lead changes occurring within the first nine minutes of play.  A three-pointer off the hands of Greyson Harrington kickstarted a 10-2 scoring run that elevated the Saints to a an 11-point lead, an advantage the Saints would hold for the remainder of the half, sending the teams into the break with a halftime score of 40-29.

After starting off the second half with a deep three-pointer from Nunnally on its first possession, St. Francis would stretch its advantage to as high as 21 points (78-57) in the second half after posting a 70.6 shooting percentage (12-of-17) over the course of the first 12 minutes.  Governors State would cut that deficit down to 13 points, getting to within 83-70 with just over three minutes to play before USF hit 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

USF finished the night at 46.4 percent from the field (26-of-56), aided by its 30.8 percent three-point shooting clip (8-of-26).  The Saints were also 26-of-29 at the foul line (89.7 pct.), while Governors State was 17-for-21 (81.0 pct.).  For the game, the Jaguars shot 41.7 percent from the field, but 39.4 percent after halftime (13-of-33) compared with their 44.4 percent first-half shooting mark (12-of-27).

St. Francis also held a 37-34 rebounding advantage, which led to 16 second-chance points opposite just eight for the Jaguars.

Up Next
St. Francis hosts Olivet Nazarene University in another important league contest on Wednesday (Feb. 11) with a 7 pm tipoff at the Pat Sullivan Center.

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