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Saint Francis hosts Bryant in NEC tourney

Bryant at Saint Francis men

NEC Tournament, First Round

Tipoff: 7 p.m., DeGol Arena

Records: Saint Francis (14-15, 11-7 NEC); Bryant (12-19, 9-9)

Coaches: Rob Krimmel is 58-93 in his fifth season at Saint Francis and overall. Tim O’Shea is 93-181 in his ninth season at Bryant and 213-276 in 16 seasons overall.

Radio: WWGE AM-1400

Probable starters: Saint Francis — G Jamaal King, 5-10 So. (12.3), G Isaiah Blackmon, 6-1 So. (12.7), G Keith Braxton, 6-4 Fr. (13.3), G Randall Gaskins Jr., 6-3 Fr. (8.4), Josh Nebo, 6-8 So. (12.3). Bryant — G Nisre Zouzoua, 6-2 So. (20.2), G Adam Grant, 6-1 Fr. (13.6), G Ikenna Ndugba, 6-0 Fr. (5.8), F Bosko Kostur, 6-7 Jr. (9.5), F Marcel Pettway, 6-5 So. (10.5).

Notes: This is Saint Francis’ first home game in the conference tournament since 1991. … The Flash finished tied for third in the league and are the No. 4 seed, while Bryant is the No. 5 seed. … The two teams split their regular-season meetings, each winning at home. The Red Flash prevailed at DeGol Arena, 75-61, and lost at Bryant, 79-75. … Bryant leads the all-time series, 8-7, but SFU won the only conference tournament matchup in 2014, winning at Bryant as the No. 6 seed. … The Flash won 11 conference games during the regular season for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign. … SFU is 9-22 all-time in the NEC tourney and 4-16 in quarterfinal games. Under Krimmel, though, the Flash have gone 2-1 in the quarterfinals. … Saint Francis has some bad luck from a timing standpoint since its students are on spring break and won’t be around for this one.

Mirror prediction: Saint Francis 77, Bryant 70

Comment: Bryant has enough firepower to steal this win, but count on the Flash to come out and play with great energy. The one thing SFU needs to be concerned about is the young players being overhyped early and starting slowly.

Mirror prediction record: 21-8

— Cory Giger

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