St. Francis honors seniors, falls in OT to St. Francis-Brooklyn

Feb. 20—LORETTO, Pa. — Tyler Stewart hasn't appeared in a college basketball game in more than a year. The 6-foot-8 swingman from Silver Spring, Md. was a key part of St. Francis University men's run to the 2020 Northeast Conference championship game after transferring from Binghamton. Then a series of concussions derailed a promising career, leaving him shooting pantomime jump shots from the Red Flash bench during many a timeout and wonder what might have been.

Stewart has remained a big part of every St. Francis home game, though the narration he composed on family, togetherness and sacrifice is a part of the Red Flash's pregame introduction package for each contest.

"Obviously, not going out there and being able to participate, it hurts. I'm still a hooper at heart," Stewart said. "The basketball journey didn't go the way how I wanted it to go, but this life journey, it continues. It continues."

Stewart was honored with fellow departing senior Ramiir Dixon-Conover, Mark Flagg, Chukwu Ikediashi and Jay Labriola before the Flash were defeated by visiting St. Francis of Brooklyn, 80-72, in overtime on Saturday afternoon in the team's final regular-season game of the campaign at DeGol Arena.

"I didn't think it was going to hit me so hard, but I walked into the locker room and saw my career highlights and it hit me right away. I was emotional the whole game," Flagg said. "It got to me. I would have loved to pull that one out. I've played a lot of games here."

Flagg, Ikediashi and Labriola started with Max Land and Zahree Harrison and played the first four-plus minutes, exiting with the contest tied at two. Ikediashi scored the first points of the game after an offensive rebound.

Flagg's been a part of Coach Rob Krimmel's rotation since first stepping on the court as a freshman in 2017. Ikediashi never carved a niche on the court but will become the first in his family to get a college degree.

From Altoona, Labriola could have gone to smaller colleges and played more but decided to walk-on at St. Francis, where his grandfather went to college. He overcame an arm injury partway through the year that almost ended his career.

"This is bigger than myself, much bigger than myself. I appreciate everything (Krimmel) and everyone has done for me the past few years. Coming to St. Francis was the best decision of my life," said Labriola, who eventually earned his scholarship.

"All five of these guys are going to leave their mark on whatever community, whatever profession they decide to embark on," Krimmel said. "I'm just disappointed we couldn't pull it out for them."

As Krimmel broke into tears postgame, Stewart put his arm around him. Stewart had averaged 8.2 points primarily off the bench two years ago before concussions ended his career. He dunked a couple in warmups to show the crowd he still had it.

"Those small moments are what I'm going to miss the most. Those interactions," Stewart said. "That's what I've been blessed with, to have to step off the court and be able to appreciate that."

The Red Flash were operating with a skeleton crew with only nine in the scorebook. Dixon-Conover, the team leader in scoring and assists, missed his second game in a row while in quarantine. He was part of the pregame ceremony via a video feed and a big-screen courtside TV.

Redshirt sophomore co-captain Luke Ruggery also was absent, presumably for the same reasons.

Starting forward Myles Thompson was out for the fifth straight game after injuring his leg earlier this month and starting guard Ronell Giles was on the bench in street clothes again after returning from a leg injury and playing 18 minutes on Thursday against Long Island.

Walk-ons Ben Seidel and Branden Scanlon weren't available either because of injuries. Seidel is a junior from Johnstown who played high school ball at Bishop McCort.

It should be noted that while Thompson and guard-forward Marlon Hargis are listed as seniors on the St. Francis roster, neither player went through senior day activities and both are expected to play for the Red Flash next year, taking advantage of the NCAA's COVID-19 exemption.

Cohen led all scorers with 25 points, including two foul shots with 0.4 seconds left in regulation to knot the game a 66 and force overtime. The Terriers, though, scored the first six points in the extra sessions to escape with the victory.

Harrison added a career-high 20 points and tied his career high with five assists in the loss. The Flash slipped to 8-19 overall and 4-12 in the NEC.

St. Francis was up 51-46 after Brad McCabe and Hargis swished back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half.

St. Francis trailed 29-27 at half after Flagg's 17-footer at the buzzer fell off the mark. Harrison, Land and Cohen each scored six points before the intermission to pace the Red Flash, who jumped out to a 9-2 lead before the Terriers came back.