St. Francis' Johnson earns family bragging rights
It wasn't a huge deal, but St. Francis junior Gabe Johnson felt slightly tickled he had something to hold over his big brother, former Wheaton Academy All-Area forward Luke Johnson, now playing at St. Leo University in Florida.
On Tuesday Gabe Johnson scored a personal-high 24 points to pace St. Francis' 61-41 win over Luke's alma mater. No longer conference opponents, they remain rivals.
"I get to go home and give my brother a little nudge like, 'We beat them.' Yeah, it was a good game for us and glad we won," said Gabe Johnson, who came to basketball late, winning a pair of Illinois Kids Wrestling Federation titles in middle school.
He made four 3-pointers, was 6-of-8 shooting and didn't miss until the end of the third quarter. Johnson and 10-point scorer Michael Shaw carried the scoring load until Jason Sullivan kicked it in for 12.
"We knew right from the get-go that we had to come out strong," said Johnson, sporting a multihued shiner from a stray elbow Dec. 3 at Hampshire. "Coming in and playing really good defense the second quarter, holding them to a single-digit quarter was really big."
St. Francis (3-3) gave up quick 3s by 10-point scorer Anthony Polinski and 9-point scorer Bryce Sandberg as Wheaton Academy (1-6) led 9-2. Spartans coach Bob Ward had seen enough, calling time, stressing priorities.
"It's always defense," Johnson said, and St. Francis allowed 3 points the rest of the first quarter then outscored the Warriors 19-8 for a 29-20 halftime lead.
"Our philosophy defensively is we do play man, we play pressure man, and it's kind of like you hope that will wear an opponent down," Ward said. "As the game went on, as our defense picked up, I think they became a little less efficient offensively."
Out of halftime a Polinski microburst got the Warriors within 29-25. A Johnson 3 ignited a 15-0 run during which Wheaton Academy missed 6 shots with 6 turnovers.
"I think for us right now it's just trying to play hard, play together and play smart," said Wheaton Academy senior point guard Christian Smith, among the few varsity-tested Warriors with Sandberg and forwards Evan Williams and Jacob Lindstedt.
Johnson scored the last basket of the third quarter and the first of the fourth. St. Francis led 48-27 and took it from there.
Wheaton Academy coach Pete Froedden said his team has yet to respond to "getting hit in the mouth." He said the exact same thing last season. They responded.
"You look in your kids' eyes and you see their disappointment, you see the hurt and then you see the determination to change that," Froedden said. "As long as you have that you're going to move forward. And our kids have that."