# 1955–56 St. Francis Terriers men's basketball team

The 1955–1956 St. Francis Terriers men's basketball team represented St. Francis College during the 1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season. The team was coached by Daniel Lynch, who was in his eighth year at the helm of the St. Francis Terriers. The team was a member of the Metropolitan New York Conference and played their home games at the II Corps Artillery Armory in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
In addition to their membership in the Metropolitan New York Conference, the Terriers were also charter members of the Middle Eastern College Athletic Association beginning this season and won the championship of that conference with a record of 4–1 against conference opponents.
The Terriers were led by Al Innis, Dan Mannix, Walt Adamushko, and Tony D'Elia in the 1955–56 season and were ranked as high as 13th nationally. The team at one point won 18 straight games and upset Niagara to reach the NIT Semi-Finals, before falling to Dayton. Also of note, Al Inniss set the St. Francis single-game rebounding record with 37 against Lafayette in the First Round of the National Invitational Tournament.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Regular Season ||||||
| December 3, 1955* | | Loyola (Baltimore) | W 85–65 | 1–0 | II Corps Armory (2,000) Brooklyn, NY |
| December 6, 1955* | | Adelphi | W 101–83 | 2–0 | II Corps Armory (1,000) Brooklyn, NY |
| December 9, 1955* | | at Fairfield | W 85–47 | 3–0 | Brass Recreation Center (400) Bridgeport, CT |
| December 10, 1955* | | at Providence | W 91–67 | 4–0 | Alumni Hall (1,500) Providence, RI |
| December 14, 1955* | | St. Bonaventure | W 79–77 | 5–0 | II Corps Armory Brooklyn, NY |
| December 17, 1955* | | at Fairleigh Dickinson | W 100–75 | 6–0 | Rutherford, NJ |
| December 19, 1955* | | Yeshiva | W 93–68 | 7–0 | II Corps Armory Brooklyn, NY |
| December 23, 1955* | | at Queens | W 87–63 | 8–0 | Fitzgerald Gymnasium Flushing, NY |
| January 10, 1956 | | CCNY | W 76–56 | 9–0 (1–0) | II Corps Armory Brooklyn, NY |
| January 14, 1956* 8:30 pm | | Siena | W 83–61 | 10–0 | II Corps Armory Brooklyn, NY |
| January 21, 1956 | | vs. St. John's | W 76–73 | 11–0 (2–0) | 69th Regiment Armory (4,000) New York, NY |
| January 26, 1956* | No. 15 | at Seton Hall | W 81–78 | 12–0 | Walsh Gymnasium (3,218) South Orange, NJ |
| January 28, 1956* | No. 15 | Ithaca | W 101–49 | 13–0 | II Corps Armory (2,000) Brooklyn, NY |
| January 31, 1956* | No. 13 | Saint Peter's | W 92–82 | 14–0 | II Corps Armory Brooklyn, NY |
| February 3, 1956* | No. 13 | Creighton | W 99–75 | 15–0 | II Corps Armory Brooklyn, NY |
| February 8, 1956* | No. 16 | at Bridgeport | W 84–77 | 16–0 | Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium Bridgeport, CT |
| February 14, 1956 | No. 13 | at Manhattan | W 98–75 | 17–0 (3–0) | II Corps Armory Brooklyn, NY |
| February 15, 1956 | No. 13 | at Brooklyn College | W 94–74 | 18–0 (4–0) | Roosevelt Gymnasium Brooklyn, NY |
| February 18, 1956* | No. 13 | at Saint Joseph's (PA) | L 76–80 | 18–1 | Palestra Philadelphia, PA |
| February 23, 1956* 7:30 pm | No. 16 | vs. Iona | L 86–97 | 18–2 | Madison Square Garden New York, NY |
| February 25, 1956* | No. 16 | at Siena | W 71–70 | 19–2 | Washington Avenue Armory Albany, NY |
| National Invitation Tournament ||||||
| March 17, 1956* 1:00 pm | | vs. Lafayette First Round | W 85–74 | 20–2 | Madison Square Garden (10,058) New York, NY |
| March 19, 1956* 7:30 pm | | vs. Niagara Quarterfinals | W 74–72 | 21–2 | Madison Square Garden New York, NY |
| March 22, 1956* | | vs. No. 3 Dayton Semifinals | L 58–89 | 21–3 | Madison Square Garden (16,125) New York, NY |
| March 24, 1956* 1:00 pm | | vs. Saint Joseph's (PA) Consolation Game | L 82–93 | 21–4 | Madison Square Garden New York, NY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking Movement Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. :
| Poll | Dec. 6 | Dec. 13 | Dec. 20 | Dec. 27 | Jan. 3 | Jan. 10 | Jan. 17 | Jan. 24 | Jan. 31 | Feb. 7 | Feb. 14 | Feb. 21 | Feb. 28 | Mar. 3 | Final |
| AP | | | | | | | | 15 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 16 | | | |

## NBA draft

At the end of the season Dan Mannix was selected with the 63rd overall pick by the Rochester Royals.

## Awards

* Alvin Innniss
       All-Metropolitan Selection by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers’ Association.
* Daniel Mannix
       All-Metropolitan Selection by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers’ Association.