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WATCH VIDEO | St Francis basketball | Freshman Moore’s heroics, Cohen’s FTs lift Red Flash to second straight NEC win | Sports

LORETTOpa – Just like he’s been doing throughout his first two months in a St. Francis University men’s basketball uniform, freshman guard Landon Moore did everything anyone could ask in the last 5:28 of Saturday afternoon’s Northeast Conference game at DeGol Arena to make the Red Flash 2-0 in the NEC entering the new year.

All that’s left is for him to be OK’d for a postgame press conference.

Moore wasn’t there to talk about it afterwards, but he scored all 15 of his points in the last 5:28 as the Flash erased a nine-point deficit to upstart Northeast newcomer Stonehill and then got his hand on an inbound pass that forced a desperation Skyhawk miss at the buzzer.

That let Josh Cohen’s two foul shots with 4.6 seconds left stand up for a thrilling 73-72 St. Francis win.

“We weren’t really executing that well. We didn’t give up. We had guys show up, like Landon,” said junior wing Max Land, one of four Flash scorers in double figures, finishing with 13 points.

This is the 10th time St Francis has opened Northeast Conference play 2-0. Cohen finished with 18 points and nine rebounds as the Flash improved to 5-10 overall. Marlon Hargis came off the bench to score 10 points in the first half.

St. Francis survived an 18-point swing in the middle of the second half to prevail.

“We were able to withstand some bad basketball and put ourselves in a position to win the game at the end,” St. Francis coach Rob Krimmel said.

Cohen roasted himself for missing five free throws in Thursday’s win over Central Connecticut State and he only was 4-for-7 at the stripe when he was fouled trying to catch an entry pass from Moore with 4.6 seconds left for a one-and-one .

Cohen, though, wanted these and he swished them both.

“I wasn’t missing those two,” Cohen said.

“We had one Division I win coming into conference play. It feels pretty different when you’re two-and-o in conference play. I’m really happy for these guys,” Cohen added.

A huge part of the reason was Moore.

Characterized as extraordinarily composed by both Krimmel and Cohen after his 20-point game on Thursday, the 6-foot-3 guard from Bloomington, Illinois, entered the contest with with nine double-figure scoring games – including a 25-point performance against Miami of Florida – and second on the Flash with a 12.6-point average, but he was unusually quiet for 35 minutes against Stonehill.

Then he caught fire, starting with a couple of free throws with 5:28 left that drew the Flash within five. Moore’s deep 3 with 2:53 left got the difference down to three at 67-64. After a Skyhawk free throw, Moore then made a step-back 3 in the corner to cut Stonehill’s lead to 70-69.

“Landon made some big-time shots,” Krimmel said.

The play Moore made on defense at the very end was just as big. Stonehill advanced the ball to half-court and called time with two seconds left. Stonehill subsequently skipped an inbounds pass to the opposite baseline to 6-6 grad student Andrew Sims, what sitting on 18 points and is second in the NEC in scoring to Cohen.

Moore leaped up and got two hands on the pass. Though the physically-mature Sims ripped it away eventually, his 19-foot prayer at the buzzer had no chance of going in, and the Flash and their fans celebrated.

Moore was requested for the postgame press conference but it was denied as effectively as Moore in denying that final pass, citing Krimmel’s personal policy.

“I’ve never (allowed a freshman to be interviewed postgame) in 11 years. I’m not going to do it now,” Krimmel said. “Max and Josh are our captains and, right now, they are the voice of our team.”

Stonehill (5-11; 1-1 NEC) showed it was not to be taken lightly after beating Sacred Heart convincingly on the road in its first-ever NEC game on Thursday. The Skyhawks held the Flash under 30% from the field much of the second half.

Land hit a left-hand leaner from about eight feet just before the buzzer to give St. Francis its largest lead of the first half at six, 39-33. Land scored 13 in the half, while Cohen and Hargis each netted 10.

The Flash ended the half on a 12-6 run.

St. Francis increased the lead to nine early in the second half when Cam Gregory turned down a Cohen screen, drove hard to his left and banked one in high off the glass before Stonehill answered with a 7-0 run.

Neither team led by more than four in the first 10 minutes. The Red Flash were up 17-13 at the 12:31 mark after Ronell Giles and Hargis hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the opposite corners.

“There’s a new energy,” Land said. “It’s a whole new season with conference play and we’re working toward something in March. That’s our ultimate goal.”

“We know we have a winning formula,” Cohen said, “and we’re just going to keep going.”

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