Feb. 14, 2009

Final Stats

LORETTO, PA - Senior Joey Henley (Kent, WA) scored a game-high 21 points, and junior Corey Hassan (Merrimack, NH) added 16 to lead the Sacred Heart men's basketball team to a 72-57 win at Saint Francis University Saturday night in a Northeast Conference tilt. The win clinched a playoff berth for the Pioneers.

Sacred Heart, 12-13 and 9-6 in the NEC, led 39-30 at the intermission on the strength of 14 first-half points by Hassan. He buried four of five treys in the period. The Pioneers also forced Saint Francis, 5-20 and 2-12, in 13 turnovers in the period.

The Pioneers pushed the lead to as large as 19 in the second half before the Red Flash made a run. Trailing 52-33, Saint Francis used an 11-0 run to cut the gap to eight with 9:15 left. Junior Ryan Litke (Windsor, CT) buried a three on the next Pioneer possession to get it back to 11.

A pair of free throws with 6:11 left by Kyle Jackson had the Red Flash within six at 56-50. Senior Ryan Howard (Bronx, NY) answered with a jumper for SHU and a pair of Jerrell Thompson (Plainfield, NJ) free throws put SHU back up by nine. A Hassan layup with 2:59 left had the Pioneers back up by 13 and they cruised home from there.

Devin Sweetney led the Red Flash with 16 points and eight rebounds. Kyle Jackson also finished in double figures with 12.