St. Charles E. battles Brother Rice to wire

While St. Charles East didn't get another dramatic win Tuesday at the 37th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York, the Saints took another step forward even in defeat.

The Saints made 9-1 Brother Rice work to the final seconds before losing 74-70. St. Charles East is playing in the winner's bracket for the first time in 11 years at a tournament always filled with talented teams.

“We got better,” said Saints coach Brian Clodi, whose team upset top-seed Maine South on a half-court buzzer-beater Monday. “They wanted it a little more than us. It's a loss but we can get better from it. I was proud of how we fought and never gave up and fought these guys tooth and nail and made it a possession game.”

Brother Rice, whose only loss was its season opener to Nazareth, never trailed. The Crusaders took their biggest lead at 63-47 in the fourth quarter, then had to hold off a furious Saints charge.

Mike Woods nailed a 3-pointer to start a 10-0 Saints run. St. Charles East pulled within 66-62 on Dan Ditusa's basket with 1:06 left.

The Crusaders, who had missed a pair of 1-and-1s to help fuel the Saints' rally, hit 8 straight from the line after Ditusa's score. And it's a good thing as Ditusa and Stephens both drained 3s to make Brother Rice sweat it out to the final buzzer.

“I'm definitely proud because we definitely fought,” said the sophomore Stephens, who scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds with a Northwestern coach watching. “I think this tournament we've really been playing well.”

Stephens and Charlie Fisher took turns keeping St. Charles East in the game in the first half. Stephens scored 13 points in the first quarter before turning the offense over to Fisher who tallied 12 in the second.

Despite Stephens' hot shooting to start the game, Brother Rice raced to a 17-6 lead beating the Saints down the court for layups and backdoor baskets when they ran their half-court offense.

“They are a great passing team so they are always looking to make the extra pass,” Stephens said. “You have to give credit to them but we have to do better in our matchups.”

Clodi said his team has a goal of taking five charges a game and was disappointed they didn't take any.

“We know Brother Rice was by far one of the best offensive teams but the one thing we weren't expecting was giving up transition buckets,” Clodi said. “We've done a great job of transition D.”

Stephens' third 3-pointer of the first quarter just before the buzzer brought the Saints within 25-17. He then gave fans a scare when he went down on a layup attempt early in the second quarter and had to be helped off the court.

Stephens injured his back on the play. He said he was about 80 percent the rest of the game and his shooting cooled, 5 of 15 after the hard fall after starting 4 of 7.

“I strained my back, it was still hurting me,” Stephens said. “I got a heating pack at halftime so that definitely loosened it up. I kind of got out of my rhythm a little. Hopefully it doesn't tighten up on me.”

Stephens sat out for three minutes, and Fisher and Zach Zajicek both hit 3-pointers with Stephens on the bench. Fisher kept going, grabbing a rebound and racing end-to-end for a layup that cut Brother Rice's lead to 29-27 and forced a timeout.

Fisher finished with a career-high 21 points.

“Charlie, we have been waiting for that all year,” Clodi said. “We know he has it in him. That's why he was up as a sophomore.”

“Feels great,” Fisher said. “I'm known more as a passer and assists so when you score 21 that feels really good.

“I seemed to be feeling it today. My mindset has been different this tournament. I have had more of that killer instinct I haven't had this whole season. I'm trying to get back into that.”

Fisher's off-balance 3 at the second-quarter buzzer made it a 39-34 deficit at halftime. Spencer Motley started the third quarter with a hard baseline drive for two and then a jumper, and the Saints were as close as they'd get, down 39-38.

Stephens actually had a layup for the lead that got blocked, and Sean Fitzpatrick stuck a 3-pointer on the other end to put the Crusaders back up four. Brother Rice kept building its lead from there, 54-45 after three quarters.

Fitzgerald led Brother Rice with 24 points and Bob Harmening scored 18.

“They (the Saints) are a hard team to play,” said Brother Rice coach Pat Richardson, adding his team is normally better at the free-throw line.

“It (the misses) was a little uncharacteristic but I think the pressure was getting to us. We were able to survive and win so that's probably a good thing.”

St. Charles East (4-7) doesn't have much time to recover, taking its small lineup into a matchup at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday against St. Ignatius and Illinois recruit Nnanna Egwu.

“We have to get ready for a team that's 7-2, now we have to figure out how to guard a 6-10 kid who is going to play at Illinois,” Clodi said. “You mentally better be ready to go every possession because these guys (in this tournament) can play.”