St. Francis fights back to beat Naperville North
Michael Cascella surely spoke for his entire team.
"Finally."
The senior's 3-pointer with just under three minutes to play gave St. Francis its first lead, and the Spartans never trailed again.
St. Francis held on for Saturday's 43-40 nonconference boys basketball victory over Naperville North in Wheaton, withstanding a last-second shot to tie from the Huskies.
"We were right there all game, I felt like," Cascella said. "Hit that 3 and we never looked back. It shows we have a lot of fight and we're never out of a game."
St. Francis (2-4) trailed most of the game after falling behind 9-0 in the opening six minutes. None of that mattered deep in the fourth quarter as the Spartans used a 12-4 run to close out the win.
Cascella's 3 put the Spartans ahead 38-36 with 2:55 left. Netzah Aldana answered with a 3-pointer for the Huskies (2-4) that tied the game at 40 apiece with 35 seconds left but St. Francis made just enough free throws - 3 of 5 - to keep Naperville North at bay.
Aldana's 3-pointer was the last field goal for Naperville North, which missed shots from beyond the arc on its final two possessions.
"We just struggled defensively, and mostly on the backboard," said Huskies coach Gene Nolan, whose team played without Loyola-bound Tom Welch this weekend because of a soccer commitment. "We charted four possessions where they had three offensive rebounds, and that's what really hurt us the most. We knew with Tom not being here there was going to be scoring that'd be hard to make up. But I thought, really, our issues were more on the defensive end."
Huskies sophomore Grant Johnson scored 5 of his game-high 18 points during their quick start in the first quarter. Riley Thompson added 14 points for Naperville North.
Cascella scored 7 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter while Marcus Ingold came off the bench and scored 7 of his 12 for the Spartans in the final period.
"We've struggled every single game getting out of the gate," said St. Francis coach Erin Dwyer. "We went to a more athletic lineup to create some pressure, and I think that helped us. They fought through some adversity, and I'm proud of them for that."
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