January 4, 2006

St. Francis downs No. 19-Flagler 90-79; Notre Dame holds off Gallaudet 67-60

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Mike Smith poured in a game-high 22 points and added eight rebounds in leading the University of Saint Francis of Joliet, Ill. to a 90-79 win over 19th-ranked (NAIA Division II) Flagler College in the championship game of the Flagler College Tournament Wednesday night at Flagler Gym. Smith was named as the Tournament MVP.
 
Smith scored 13 of his 22 points in the second half and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line for Saint Francis (7-6). DeMario Edwards added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Saints while All-Tournament selection Eric Epps chipped in with 16 points, six assists and five rebounds. Reid Burel added 12 points while Kevin Howard tacked on 11 points.
 
Saint Francis made 31 of 40 free throws and also out-rebounded Flagler 47-27. The Saints registered 18 offensive boards and converted them into 27 points.
 
USF opened the game on a 10-0 run but had to fight off a resilient Flagler team who had rallied from 18 down to win the night before. Flagler Went on an 8-2 run to after a Sam Jozenville (Orlando, Fla./Santa Fe CC) layup making the score 20-15 with 9:01 to go in the half. Saint Francis would go on to lead by as many as 16 in the opening half (37-21) before going to the break with a 40-27 lead. Epps scored eight of USF’s last 10 points in the half.
 
The USF advantage would swell to as many as 19 in the second half, but Flagler refused to go away. A Bryan Borstelmann (Bradenton, Fla./Manatee HS) 3-pointer with with 1:02 left in regulation cut the deficit to seven and one possession later, Jonathan Sterling (Melbourne, Fla./Seminole CC) sank a trey to get Flagler to within six. That would be as close as Flagler could get as Saint Francis sank 7-of-8 free throws with 30 seconds or less on the clock to close out the game.
 
Sterling led Flagler (9-4) with 20 points coming off the bench. All-Tournament selections Borstelmann and Ben De La Cruz (Orlando, Fla./University HS) added 20 and 16 points, respectively. Jozenville chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds for Flagler.
 
Flagler College travels to Jacksonville on Saturday to take on Edward Waters College at 7 p.m.
 
St. Francis (IL) vs Flagler College
01/04/06 8:15 p.m. at St. Petersburg, Fla. (Flagler Gym)
At St. Petersburg, Fla. (Flagler Gym)
 
ST. FRANCIS (IL) 90, FLAGLER COLLEGE 79
 
ST. FRANCIS (IL) (7-6)
 
Smith, Mike 6-9 8-8 22; Edwards, DeMario 4-9 8-13 17; Epps, Eric 6-11 3-4
16; Burel, Reid 2-7 7-8 12; Howard, Kevin 4-5 3-4 11; Kirstein, Micah 2-10
2-3 6; Applegate, Mike 2-3 0-0 4; Hackstock, Don 1-1 0-0 2; Stosic, Dejan
0-3 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 31-40 90.
 
FLAGLER COLLEGE (9-4)
Jonathan Sterling 4-7 11-12 20; Bryan Borstelmann 6-12 0-1 16; Ben De La
Cruz 5-9 5-9 15; Sam Jozenville 2-6 6-6 10; J.P. Clark 3-6 1-2 8; Marquis
Johnson 1-1 2-3 4; Jon Matthews 1-8 2-2 4; Kyle Cregan 1-4 0-0 2; Lee Wise
0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 27-35 79.
 
St. Francis (IL)..............   40   50  -   90
Flagler College...............   27   52  -   79

3-point goals-St. Francis (IL) 5-12 (Smith, Mike 2-3; Burel, Reid 1-1; Epps,
Eric 1-2; Edwards, DeMario 1-2; Kirstein, Micah 0-4), Flagler College 6-21
(Bryan Borstelmann 4-8; J.P. Clark 1-2; Jonathan Sterling 1-4; Jon Matthews
0-4; Kyle Cregan 0-3). Fouled out--St. Francis (IL)-Howard, Kevin; Kirstein,
Micah, Flagler College-Bryan Borstelmann. Rebounds-St. Francis (IL) 47
(Edwards, DeMario 12), Flagler College 27 (Ben De La Cruz 5; Sam Jozenville
5). Assists-St. Francis (IL) 12 (Epps, Eric 6), Flagler College 13 (Jonathan
Sterling 3). Total fouls-St. Francis (IL) 31, Flagler College 28. A-144

Flagler Tournament Championship Game
 
All-Tournament Team: Eric Epps (USF), Ben De La Cruz (Flagler), Bryan
Borstelmann (Flagler), Robert Haney, Jr. (Gallaudet), Jerome Pierce (NDC)
MVP-Mike Smith (USF)