Quick start, strong finish for St. Francis
As St. Francis coach Erin Dwyer put it, the boys basketball rivalry between the Spartans and Wheaton Academy on the hard court has always been a healthy one.
On Saturday night in West Chicago, it was the visitors who got the upper hand in another hard-fought contest as St. Francis prevailed 57-36.
"Both teams play hard," Dwyer said. "Both teams try to play and represent their schools the right way. It's not hard to get up for a game like this."
The Spartans (3-2) were clicking from the opening tip, with Timothy Sullivan hitting a 3-pointer at the outset to give his team a lead it wouldn't relinquish. That advantage swelled to 20-6 by the end of the first quarter.
"We started out the game strong," Sullivan said. "We came out firing and didn't step off the gas pedal. Our defense was lights out, everyone was hustling all over the place. We really couldn't play better on defense."
Indeed, St. Francis held the Warriors to 3 field goals in the opening 16 minutes. Jimmy Paganis tried to keep the home team close, scoring all 6 of Wheaton Academy's points in the second quarter, but the deficit was still 29-12 by half.
The lead didn't fall under 16 points the rest of the way as Andrew Harvey and Sullivan both hit 3-pointers in the third quarter.
Sullivan and Harvey finished with 11 points. Matthew Cooney and John Detloff had 8 each and Danny Blank and Alex Rueth chipped in with 7 apiece.
"We have three simple philosophies: play hard, play smart and play together," Dwyer said. "So much about defense is just effort. I was very proud of our execution. It's nice to see us take the scouting report and execute it."
Paganis finished with 11 points and 6 rebounds for the Warriors (2-4), who were coming off a victory over Fenton on Friday. Stephen Garrison and Jack Dykema added 8 points.
"St. Francis is a tough team and they are coached well," Wheaton Academy coach David Osborn said. "For us, we gave them too many easy looks early and that let them settle in. We played better last night, we came out with more toughness. Tonight St. Francis was more on the attack."