FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Sacred Heart men's basketball team clinched its first Northeast Conference Tournament home game since 2009 with an 88-78 victory over Saint Francis U in its regular season finale on Saturday at the William H. Pitt Center. Finishing 11-7 in NEC play, Sacred Heart tied for second in the league standings, matching its best ever finish in program history.

SHU is the third-seed in the NEC Tournament. The Pioneers will host sixth-seeded LIU Brooklyn on Wednesday, March 2 at the Pitt Center. The game, which will tip-off at 7 p.m. will air on MSG and FCS as well as NEC Front Row.

Down by 47-36 at the half, Saint Francis U (13-16, 9-9 NEC) stormed all the way back to tie it at 61 with 10:38 remaining, capping a 14-3 run. After four quick SHU points, the Red Flash came back to tie once again at 65 just 1:49 later. That is where the Pioneers would make their move, countering with a 13-1 surge over the next 4:43 to eventually run away with the game.

Sacred Heart took the lead for good when Tevin Falzon made two free throws on the next trip down the floor. He then followed a huge Matej Buovac three-pointer with two more, reestablishing a seven-point advantage with 6:45 to go.

Following Saint Francis U's Ronnie Drinnon going 1-2 at the line, again it was Buovac coming up large with a layup. Cane Broome then pushed the lead to double digits before Falzon put an exclamation point on the run, once again hitting two foul shots to give SHU its largest lead of the evening, 78-66, with just 4:06 left. The Red Flash could get no closer than nine in the final four minutes.

Those two free throws capped Falzon's second 10-10 performance at the line this season, something that had not been done since November of 2012 before he did it earlier this season on January 14 at Central Connecticut. Honored before the game as part of Senior Day, he finished with 17 points an 11 rebounds for his team-leading eighth double double, and added two blocks to move within one of the program's all-time Division I leader Liam Potter with 96 for his career.

Broome also went 6-6 en route to his game-high 23 points, moving into tenth place in program history for most points in a single season with 659. He matched his career-high with six assists and also had four rebounds. Buovac contributed 16 points for a second straight game, two shy of his season-high, making 4-8 from beyond the arch. Also honored prior to the contest, graduate student Jordan Allen was rebound shy of a double double with ten points, making 5-7 from the field in just 16 minutes. SHU's third senior, Eyimofe Edukugho, had five points and three rebounds in 11 minutes.

As a team, Sacred Heart shot 19-21 from the foul line, including 17-19 in the second half, to finish over 90 percent for a second straight game, something the Pioneers have not done since January 17 and 19 of 2013. Holding Saint Francis U to just 5-7 from the line, SHU also shot 53.6 percent (30-56) from the floor and 42.9 percent from three (9-21). 

Drinnon was a force for SFU, nearing 20-20 numbers with 17 points and 18 rebounds. No other teammate had more than three. Greg Brown led the Red Flash with 21 points and four assists while Ben Millaud-Meunier was the only other player who scored more than six points, finishing  with 12.

Sacred Heart and LIU Brooklyn split the regular season series with both teams winning on their home floor by eight points, most recently a 98-90 Pioneer victory on February 6. The Blackbirds wrapped up their season 15-14 and 9-9 in the NEC after losing 88-83 to Bryant this afternoon.

Noteworthy

• Sacred Heart will enter the NEC Tournament 10-4 over its last 14 games, tied with regular season champion Wagner for the best record over that stretch
• The Pioneers 11 league wins is the most for the Pioneers since posting a 12-6 record in 2008-09
• Today's win ensured that Sacred Heart was not swept by at least one opponent in the conference for the first time in the Pioneers' 17 seasons in the league
• Currently 6-4 in the William H. Pitt Center this season, the Pioneers clinched back-to-back winning seasons at home for the first time since 2008-09 and 2009-10
• This will be just the second time that SHU is seeded third, the other time being in 2009. The Pioneers were the two-seed in 2007 and 2008.
• Sacred Heart has now won six games in back-to-back February's, something the Pioneers did twice during its first 15 years in the league.

Inside the Box

• The 47 first half points tied a new season-high.
• Sacred Heart's 16 assists were its third highest total this season, while its 11 turnovers are tied for its fourth fewest
• Outrebounding the Red Flash 37-31, the Pioneers have now outrebounded its opponent in six of the last eight games
  

How it Happened

• First Half
  • After Millaud-Meunier opened the scoring with a three-pointer, Sacred Heart's three seniors scored the first 13 SHU points. Allen poured in the first six before Falzon put the Pioneers ahead 13-6 on a jumper 5:45 into the game. Edukugho added a bucket in the stretch
  • Saint Francis chipped away and took its third and final lead, 23-21, on Josh Nebo's layup with 9:28 remaining
  • The final tie of the half came when Drinnon laid in a basked to even the score at 25 at the 6:30 mark
  • Then began a 22-11 Sacred Heart run to end the half, which included six three-pointers. Broome's triple with 1:30 showing gave the Pioneers the first double digit lead of the game, 44-34, and after Harmon answered with a jumper, Buovac closed the scoring with his third three-pointer of the half 21 seconds ahead of the buzzer for 47-36 advantage

• Second Half
  • Falzon opened the scoring just 23 seconds out of the locker room to match the games largest lead, 49-36
  • SFU came back with seven straight points to get back within six, but Sacred Heart quickly pushed the lead back to double digits on Quincy McKnight's jumper with 16:52 showing
  • The lead was still 11, 58-47, after Allen made a jumper at the 14:54 mark
  • The Red Flash used a 14-3 run over the next 4:16 to tie it at 61 on Drinnon's layup with 10:38 remaining