St. Francis Brooklyn wins NEC opener 73-68 over Sacred Heart

Dec 29, 2017, 10:32 pm

FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- Rasheem Dunn scored 16 points, Glenn Sanabria added 15 and Chauncey Hawkins made four free throws in the final 22 seconds to lift St. Francis (Brooklyn) to a 73-68 win over Sacred Heart in a Northeast Conference opener on Friday.

Both times Hawkins went to the line he gave the Terriers' lead to two possessions. After the second pair of free throws with nine seconds left, Sacred Heart missed two 3-pointers before time ran out.

Mario Matasovic hit a 3-pointer to pull the Pioneers within 67-64 with 3:56 to play and Sean Hoehn had two free throws on the next possession to make it a one-point game. Both teams had chances before Dunn had a steal and layup to make it 69-66 with 2:14 to go. The teams combined for five empty possessions but a steal by Hawkins led to his first two free throws.

Jalen Jordan had 11 points, Hawkins and Jagos Lasic 10 each for the Terriers (4-9), who were 14 of 31 from 3-point range to help offset a 45-28 rebounding disadvantage, and went 12 of 32 inside the arc.

Matasovic had 17 points for the Pioneers (5-9), who were 6 of 25 from distance.