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Red Flash leave Indiana with memorable defeat

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Saint Francis had the lead at halftime on the road at Indiana in the first round of the NIT.

No matter the final score, that fact alone — which many would have thought impossible — will be remembered for years to come by those who are in and who follow the Red Flash program.

“It just shows how far we’ve come,” SFU senior point guard Jamaal King said.

“It was great,” junior forward Keith Braxton said with a smile.

The Flash played a terrific first half and, up 40-34 heading into the locker room, had 5,431 fans at historic Assembly Hall stunned and angry.

This has been a bit of a disappointing year for Indiana basketball, and the loud Hoosier fans couldn’t believe their storied program was losing to a small school like Saint Francis.

Things changed quickly in the second half, thanks to a game-changing 12-0 run, and Indiana pulled away for what might look like a blowout at 89-72. But the Flash were still down by just 12 points with less than four minutes to go, continuing to battle throughout.

“We said we’re coming out here, and we want to win,” King said. “The first half we played great.”

Indiana just barely missed making the NCAA Tournament and is a No. 1 seed in the NIT, while the Flash were an 8 seed. The Hoosiers opened up as 19 Ç-point favorites, but the line dropped to 16 Ç when standout guard Romeo Langford, a projected NBA lottery pick, was ruled out with a back injury.

In these type of games, the big school often comes out flat because it had hoped for an NCAA bid and not the NIT. And not having Langford, the team’s leading scorer at 16.5 points per game, hurt the Hoosiers, who aren’t a good shooting team from the perimeter.

So, Saint Francis coach Rob Krimmel came out in a 2-3 zone, something the Flash haven’t used a ton this season. That forced Indiana to take a lot of jump shots, and standout big man Juwan Morgan picked up two fouls that prevented the team from continually pounding the ball inside.

The Flash jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead, only to see Indiana answer with 14 straight points for a 16-7 edge. The fans were probably figuring the rout was on at that point, but Saint Francis showed poise and grit in battling back.

King got hot from the perimeter and scored 16 first-half points, while Isaiah Blackmon had nine. The Flash trailed 22-13, then used their own 13-2 run to grab a 26-24 lead.

“It’s typical Jamaal,” Krimmel said of his point guard. “I don’t know that I’ve coached a more competitive kid. … To see him have that kind of performance on this kind of stage does not surprise me.”

Despite the crowd getting very loud trying to encourage the Hoosiers, Saint Francis continued to play well down the stretch in the first half. The Flash were up 36-34 when Indiana coach Archie Miller got a technical screaming for a foul call.

King and Braxton made two free throws apiece, giving the Flash the improbable 40-34 lead at the half.

What did the Flash show the crowd?

“Saint Francis basketball has players,” Blackmon said. “You don’t have to come to a big school to see good basketball players.”

The second half was a much different story, or put another way, it was the story that many would have predicted coming into the game. The Hoosiers took advantage of Morgan’s size and skill set, kept feeding him over and over again, and the smaller Flash just had no answer.

Morgan scored 21 of his game-high 28 points in the second half as Indiana outscored the Flash 55-32 over the final 20 minutes.

“Big body, good player, all-conference player,” Braxton said of Morgan. “He was just doing what he wanted down there. We tried to stick to our scouting report, but sometimes great players just make great shots. He played a great game today and gave us a lot of trouble.”

Miller said the game plan coming in was to capitalize on Morgan’s skills inside, but the foul trouble in the first half prevented that.

“Juwan clearly established himself, and that’s what we needed to do the entire game,” Miller said.

Miller also had strong words for his squad’s play early on.

“It was a very very poor performance in the first half,” he said, “and I knew it was coming. … I didn’t feel that we had four or five guys completely locked in, and it showed.”

There was a question of whether Langford was held out because of injury, or if he just didn’t want to play to protect his NBA draft stock. It was the former.

“If we played in the NCAA Tournament tonight, he wouldn’t have played,” Miller said, clarifying the issue was indeed Langford’s back.

Blackmon led the Flash with 21 points, showing off a smooth shooting stroke by hitting 5-of-9 3-pointers.

King, a two-time first-team all-NEC selection, was held to three points in the second half and finished with19 in the final game of his impressive career.

Braxton was held to nine points but also had nine rebounds.

“A lot of credit to Saint Francis,” Miller said. “They came in here, and in particular Jamaal King really played well. That first half he was fantastic, he got them going.”

Aljami Durham had 22 points for the Hoosiers, who advanced to second round to face Arkansas, which defeated Providence.

The Flash’s season is over, finishing with an 18-15 record, but the effort they showed Tuesday was memorable in the program’s first NIT appearance in 61 years.

“Our stay has been fantastic,” Krimmel said. “What an opportunity for our guys to come in and compete against one of the most storied programs in college basketball history and one of the most storied arenas.”

ST. FRANCIS (18-15)

Laporal 1-6 0-0 2, King 6-12 4-5 19, Gaskins 1-2 0-0 2, Braxton 3-12 2-2 9, I.Blackmon 8-14 0-0 21, Flagg 1-5 1-2 3, M.Thompson 3-6 1-2 7, Kuzavas 0-0 0-0 0, Henry 0-1 2-2 2, Labriolo 0-1 0-0 0, Wolford 0-3 3-3 3, Klebon 0-0 0-0 0, Forehand 0-1 0-0 0, Dixon-Conover 1-2 2-2 4. Totals 24-65 15-18 72.

INDIANA (18-15)

Smith 5-6 0-4 10, Morgan 10-13 8-11 28, Phinisee 4-9 1-2 9, Green 4-13 1-2 12, Durham 9-15 1-2 22, Fitzner 1-4 0-0 2, Davis 1-2 0-0 2, Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Forrester 1-1 0-0 2, Anderson 0-3 0-0 0, Jager 0-0 2-2 2, McRoberts 0-2 0-0 0, V.Blackmon 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-68 13-23 89.

St. Francis (Pa.) 40 32–72

Indiana 34 55–89

3-Point Goals–St. Francis (Pa.) 9-24 (I.Blackmon 5-9, King 3-6, Braxton 1-5, Wolford 0-2, M.Thompson 0-2), Indiana 6-21 (Durham 3-7, Green 3-8, Fitzner 0-1, Smith 0-1, Phinisee 0-1, McRoberts 0-1, Anderson 0-2). Fouled Out–None. Rebounds–St. Francis (Pa.) 37 (Braxton 9), Indiana 40 (Smith 9). Assists–St. Francis (Pa.) 11 (King 5), Indiana 18 (Green 6). Total Fouls–St. Francis (Pa.) 18, Indiana 15. A–5,431

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