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St. Joseph's size sinks St. Charles East

Nobody ever wants to battle a team like St. Joseph short-handed, and St. Charles East was caught in an especially bad matchup Friday night at the 57th annual Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament.

Missing their tallest starter and leading rebounder, 6-foot-5 Justin Hardy, the Saints had no answer for St. Joseph's 6-foot-11 Nick Rakocevic.

The senior big man finished with a double-double and then some, a 20-20 game. Rakocevic scored 29 points on 14-of-17 shooting, pulled down 21 rebounds and blocked 5 shots in the Chargers' 67-52 victory.

St. Charles East (2-1) will play Metea Valley in the third-place game at 6 p.m. Saturday. St. Joseph (3-0) meets Downers Grove South at 7:45 p.m. for the championship.

Hardy was injured in the first quarter of Wednesday's win over Schaumburg, taking a scary fall that left him with a concussion.

The Saints started four guards Friday, with 6-foot-3 Evan DiLeonardi giving up 8 inches guarding Rakocevic.

"It's different," DiLeonardi said. "You really have to focus to keep him off the boards which I struggled with tonight. You have to play tough. He's a good player. He's going to get his."

DiLeonardi helped the Saints get off to a quick start. After J.T. Ford opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, DiLeonardi connected from deep three times in the opening quarter, the final one putting St. Charles East up 14-7.

The Saints held the lead 14-10 after one quarter and stayed ahead midway through the second quarter at 22-19. DiLeonardi and Ford scored all 22 of the Saints' first-half points.

That's when the Chargers took command, ending the first half with the final 9 points and scoring the first 8 of the second half, a 17-0 run that left St. Charles East in a 34-22 hole.

"I don't think we executed our sets well and didn't make our reads as good as we could," St. Charles East coach Patrick Woods said. "Credit St. Joe's defense and having a 6-10 kid out there changing some shots. That' something we'll get better on as the season goes on."

Rakocevic scored 20 of his 29 points in the second half as the Chargers built their lead to 47-34 after three quarters. A pair of baskets from James McQuillan and a Ford bucket drew the Saints within 49-41 early in the fourth, but that's as close as they would get.

Joffari Brown added 12 points for St. Joseph. Rakocevic is the only senior in coach Gene Pingatore's lineup.

"We're a bunch of babies," Pingatore said. "As good as they are individually, they have no real experiences as far as playing at this level. We have a lot of work to do. I think we can be pretty good by the end of the year."

Rakocevic outrebounded the Saints by himself as the Chargers dominated on the glass, 45-13.

It will help when Hardy comes back. Woods said he is in the concussion protocol.

"Fortunately as bad as it was (being carted off the court) it's the best case scenario considering that," Woods said. "He was out cold for a bit. He's better now and improving."

DiLeonardi led the Saints with 18 points, Ford had 13 points and 5 rebounds, Zach Hondlik 9 points and Zach Mitchell 8.

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