Partly cloudy skies. High 67F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Partly cloudy during the evening followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 49F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.

LORETTO, Pa. – With 40 seconds left in Saturday afternoon’s Northeast Conference men’s basketball game at DeGol Arena, St. Francis junior wing Max Land almost came up with a steal on the full-court press.

However, the ball squirted out of his hands and ended up being a held ball with the possession arrow favoring Merrimack.

It was a microcosm of what ended up being a frustrating contest for Land and the Red Flash, who played from behind almost all of the contest, took a five-point lead, only to see it slip away in the final few minutes, 75-68.

The outcome virtually put to rest any hopes St. Francis had of hosting the NEC tournament, and now, at 6-6 in the conference with four games left, the Red Flash will have a battle on their hands to ensure at least one home game in the tourney.

“We’ve just got to have a short-term memory, recoup come Monday,” Land said. “We’ve got a quick turnaround – two road games. We’ve got to come together.”

St. Francis dipped to 9-16 overall.

The Red Flash didn’t have a field goal in the final 5:38, as Merrimack (11-16, 9-4 NEC) ended the game on a 15-3 run.

“We had some open looks. We just didn’t knock them down. We gave them some turnovers. They had some easy buckets. That’s the type of team that feeds off that stuff,” St. Francis junior post Josh Cohen said after scoring 24 points, pulling down nine rebounds and tying a career high with six assists in defeat. “You give them some energy. You give them life. They were pretty down and out.”

Cohen also drew seven fouls and had four fouls on each of Merrimack’s top-two scorers – Jordan Minor and Ziggy Reid – with more than 15 minutes left, but neither Warriors star was disqualified.

Cohen left the floor two points shy of 1,000 for his career. Seldom at a loss for words win or lose, Cohen was noticeably somber afterward.

“We had them on the ropes,” Cohen said. “We just couldn’t finish them.”

St. Francis was shooting better than 50% from the floor until late in the game and still wound up going 25-for-54 from the floor. Land was the only other Red Flash player to score in double figures, with 10 to go along with 11 rebounds, tying his career high.

Marlon Hargis came off the bench to register nine points and five boards. Brad McCabe scored St. Francis’ first seven points and wound up with eight.

“There were two periods where we didn’t execute the best we needed to,” St. Francis coach Rob Krimmel said. “We started the game down 8-0 and I think they finished on a 9-2 run.

“When you spot a team 15 points on a six- minute spurt, it becomes very hard to win.”

In a game that featured 12 lead changes and 10 ties, St. Francis trailed for most of the first 33 minutes – the Red Flash led for just 6:47 – and didn’t enjoy a multi-possession lead until Land’s transition trey off McCabe’s skip pass with 5:39 left made it 65-60.

The Red Flash had better success than they did just a week earlier against Merrimack’s intricate 2-3 zone, when St. Francis battled back from 18 down on the road before falling 70-66.

“We started playing though the high post, got the ball to Josh, let him work it in the middle and kick it to guys for open shots,” Land said.

“For the better part of the 40 minutes, we did an OK job. There were just those couple of stretches where we had turnovers.

St. Francis had 15 giveaways that the Warriors turned into 16 points. The Red Flash only had three points off Merrimack’s six turnovers.

Merrimack had an unusually good day shooting from deep, too. The Warriors, who came in averaging fewer than seven treys per game and making just 30.5% from behind the arc, went 13-for-38 versus the Red Flash.

In the earlier meeting, the Warriors made 8 of 21 3s and committed 17 turnovers.

The Warriors held a 36-31 lead at half when Devon Savage banked in an 80-foot heave at the buzzer after Jordan Derkack stripped Cohen attempting to go up for a tying jumper from just inside the foul line.

Merrimack opened the game with dunks on two of its first three shots as the Warriors jumped out to an 8-0 lead before Krimmel called timeout at the 18:14 mark.

The Red Flash stormed back, though, tying it at 19 when Wisler Sanon converted from behind the arc after Cam Gregory’s drive and pitch.

Gregory gave St. Francis its first lead, 24-22, when he was fouled trying to tip in Cohen’s missed 14-footer off an inbound pass with 9:01 left in the half.

The St. Francis University softball team defeated Illinois-Chicago 5-1 to earn a victory in both of its games against the Flames at the Buzz Classic.

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