La Plume, PA – Keystone College's men's basketball team will check off a new milestone in program history on Thursday night when it travels to Loretto, Pennsylvania to take on St. Francis University in the Giants' first-ever meeting against an NCAA Division I opponent. The non-conference game between the Giants and Red Flash is slated to tipoff at 7:00 p.m. in St. Francis's DeGol Arena in the Maurice Stokes Athletic Center.
Keystone (0-1) enters Thursday night's matchup after dropping an 82-75 decision to Franklin & Marshall College in Tuesday's season-opener in La Plume. The Giants came out hot, going 8-13 from three-point range while building a 38-15 lead over the first 12:41 of the game before the Diplomats battled back to tie the score at 41-apiece at halftime. Franklin & Marshall went ahead early in the second half and held off several late charges by Keystone to pick up the seven-point victory.
Duncan Lunsford (Marietta, GA/Sprayberry) led the Giants with 19 points,
James Cooper (Effort, PA/Pius X) netted 13 points, and
Miles Dargan (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) and
Darien Wingate (Brooklyn, NY/Christiana) chipped in 10 points apiece to lead Keystone offensively as Keystone shot 43.5 percent from the field for the game, 30 percent from beyond the arc, and 80 percent from the free throw line.
St. Francis (0-2) will also be looking for their first win of the young season on Thursday after dropping Friday's season-opener at the University of Cincinnati, 52-37, before being edged out at American University on Monday, 49-46.
Sophomore guard Malik Harmon, who was the Northeast Conference (NEC) Rookie of the Year last season, paces the Red Flash with 13.5 points per game through the first two games while junior forward Ronnie Drinnon leads the squad with 10 rebounds through the team's opening pair of contests.
St. Francis went 10-21 overall in the 2013-14 season including a 7-9 mark in conference play. The Red Flash advanced to the NEC semifinals where they were defeated by top-seeded Robert Morris University, 60-57.
Driving directions to St. Francis University can be found by clicking
HERE or by following the GPS Address: 140 Lakeview Drive, Loretto, PA 15940
Live media coverage for Thursday night's game is available as listed below:
Live VideoLive StatsAudioThursday night's contest will be Keystone's final tune-up before the Giants open Colonial States Athletic Conference play next Tuesday night at Gwynedd Mercy University.
