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St. Francis works on its game

The outcome of Friday's 67-27 St. Francis win over visiting Montini quit being in doubt about midway through the second quarter.

Then what came priority for the Spartans (11-9, 3-2 Suburban Christian Conference) was keeping the quality of its play up, and they were able to say "mission accomplished" after that.

"We had a good combination of juniors and seniors out there. We had good senior leadership and we played mature tonight," said St. Francis coach Bob Ward. "We hit our 3s. And when you are hitting your outside shots, you look like you are on your toes. We played hard and executed hard."

St. Francis started the game shooting 4 of 6 from the field to lead 17-4 after the first quarter, and stayed hot shooting the next quarter, going 9 of 12 and leading 44-12 at halftime.

"From the get-go we came out strong. Montini is a tough team. They were tough against Marmion (a 52-48 loss to the first-place Cadets on Jan. 23). And it's the first time in a while that our defense held a team to single digits in all four quarters. That's huge," said Spartans junior Gabriel Johnson, who scored a game-high 21 points.

"Gabriel keeps getting better and is able to find other guys who are shooting the ball well also," Ward added.

Mike Shaw followed Johnson with 13 points. St. Francis finished with nine 3-point baskets and made 10 of 11 from the free-throw line.

St. Francis returns to its home court Saturday for the Wheaton-Quad Cities Jack's Army Shootout. It's a tripleheader that starts at 3:30 with Wheaton North against Moline, followed by Wheaton Warrenville South against Rock Island at 5 p.m., with St. Francis battling Rock Island Alleman at 6:30 p.m.

"Alleman represents an area of the state that plays really good basketball. Rock Island is ranked (10th) in the state," Ward said.

Mike Mooney led Montini (1-21, 0-4) with 5 points.

With 6-foot-5 junior center Kevin Brachmann out injured and when he'll return to the lineup uncertain, a tough season for the Broncos has gotten tougher. But coach Brian Opoka said his team kepts battling.

"We're trying to redefine our roles and finish out the season hard. They are trying to the best of their ability. This team has great character and gives every ounce of effort," he said.

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