St. Francis rallies past Batavia
A little effort goes a long way.
A lot of effort goes a little longer.
Displaying resiliency despite its inexperienced lineup, St. Francis (2-1) rallied from an 8-point, third-quarter deficit and then hung on for a 53-51 victory over host Batavia (1-2) during Friday night's 41st Ken Peddy Windmill City Classic Basketball Tournament.
Junior Andrew Harvey, who scored a team-high 16 points, gave the Spartans the lead for good at 50-48 when he buried a cold-blooded 3-pointer with 5 minutes remaining.
Sophomore guard Michael Cascella (12 points) added 3 free throws in the final 1:31 to cap his 7-point, fourth-quarter performance.
The 5-foot-6 sixth man came up big when the Spartans needed it most.
"He's a little guy but he's fearless," said St. Francis coach Erin Dwyer. "He's got a short memory when it comes to mistakes. He just goes out, lets it fly and competes. It's a nice, little sparkplug to bring off the bench."
The Spartans' ability to speed up the game down the stretch enabled them to outscore Batavia 15-5 during the pivotal fourth quarter.
Senior guard Tim Sullivan (7 points, 3 steals) also contributed a key 3-point basket during the late comeback.
"The one thing we talked about was if we were going to defend them, we have to make the game more of a full-court game," said Dwyer. "When they (the Bulldogs) have that kind of length and vision, it's hard to keep them at bay when they're in half-court sets."
Cascella, Sullivan, and junior Alex Rueth (4 points, 6 rebounds) typified the Spartans' floor burn approach on defense.
"Our bench kept picking us up - fighting for loose balls and 50-50 stuff," said Cascella. "That's how you win games. It was a collective team effort and a huge, huge win."
Senior forward Colin Cheaney tallied a game-high 22 points and 3 steals for the Bulldogs, who led 33-28 at halftime and 46-38 after 3 quarters before committing 6 fourth-quarter turnovers.
"Some of the decisions we made there at the end, we didn't help ourselves," said Batavia coach Jim Nazos. "We put ourselves in a hole.
"We got insecure in a lot of ways - offensively and defensively. We're a team searching for its identity right now. In both of our losses, we've given the other team far too many extra possessions. You can't live like that."
Eric Peterson added 9 points for the Bulldogs, who missed a pair of 3-pointers that would have given them the lead in the final 27 seconds.
"St. Francis played hard and they played smart," said Nazos. "They did a lot of good things."
Junior Matthew Cooney added 7 points for the Spartans, who will face Wheaton Warrenville South (3-0) for the tourney title Saturday night.