Loretto, Pa. (February 26, 2015)—Mount St. Mary's fell to Saint Francis U, 63-60, on Thursday night in Northeast Conference action.  Byron Ashe paced the Mount with 15 points in the loss.  Despite the loss, the Mount has clinched a home game in the upcoming Northeast Conference Tournament.

The Mount (14-14, 10-7 NEC), which trailed throughout the second half, cut the deficit to one point on three occasions, but could not complete a comeback win.

The Mountaineers pulled within 49-46 after an Andrew Smeathers three-pointer with 9:11 remaining, but the Red Flash (15-13, 9-8 NEC) pushed its lead back to 55-48 on a Greg Brown lay-up with 5:04 on the clock.

Mount St. Mary's responded with a pair of Junior Robinson free throws and another Smeathers three-pointer to cut the margin to 55-53.  After a pair of stops on the defensive end, Ashe hit 1-of-2 at the line to make it 55-54 with 2:25 left.

Saint Francis forward Earl Brown connected on a three-pointer with 1:14 on the clock for a 58-54 lead, but the Mount rallied again.  Robinson converted a nifty drive to the bucket, and after a SFU turnover, Ashe was fouled with 35 seconds left with a chance to tie the game.

Ashe hit 1-of-2 at the line to make it 58-57, and the Mount fouled Greg Brown with 28 seconds left.  He hit both free throws to push the advantage to 60-57.  After an Ashe miss on a baseline drive, Ollie Jackson hit 1-of-2 at the line for the Red Flash for a four-point lead with 20 seconds left.

The Mount had one more rally, with Will Miller draining a three-pointer with 7.3 seconds to make it 61-60.  The Mount fouled Greg Brown again, and he hit both free throws for a three-point lead with six seconds remaining.

SFU elected to foul Robinson with 2.7 seconds left, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one, and SFU's Earl Brown was fouled on the rebound.  The Mount kept its hopes alive when he missed both free throws, and the Mount go the ball back with 1.1 seconds on the clock.  However, a desperation heave by Smeathers at the buzzer was off the mark, and SFU escaped with the win.

Ashe led the Mount with 15 points while Robinson added 12 points in the loss.  Smeathers chipped in eight points while Kristijan Krajian had six points and a career-high 10 rebounds.  Gregory Graves had a solid effort with six points, nine boards and five assists.

Earl Brown led the Red Flash with 16 points with Greg Brown added 11 points and five rebounds.

The Mount shot 34.4 percent in the game and was just 9-of-30 (.300) from three-point range.  Saint Francis shot 42.2 percent overall and was 9-for-25 (.360) from beyond the arc.

In the first half, Robinson scored five quick points to give the Mount an early 7-6 lead.  The Red Flash countered with a 13-0 run over the next 7:03 of the game to take a 19-to-7 advantage midway through the half.

An Ollie Jackson three-pointer gave Saint Francis its biggest lead at 22-9 before the Mount got back into the game behind an Ashe scoring outburst.  Ashe hit three three-pointers and a lay-up to cut the deficit to 28-21 with 3:52 left in the half.

After a Saint Francis lay-up pushed the advantage to nine, the Mount scored the final five points of the half to make it 30-26 at the break.

The Mount shot just 32.3 percent (10-of-31) in the first half while committing nine turnovers.  Saint Francis converted 42.3 percent (11-of-26) in the half.

Mount St. Mary's closes out the regular season at home on Saturday, February 28, against Wagner.  The Mount will honor seniors Kristijan Krajina and Aaron Brown before the game.