Lilly, St. Francis enjoy return to the Warrior Dome
After a one-year absence, senior Tim Lilly has returned to the St. Francis basketball program.
One of the benefits occurred Monday - another chance to participate in the annual rivalry with Wheaton Academy and at its well-known Warrior Dome.
"A great environment. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad I got to come back to this one," said Lilly, who will play baseball at Villanova. "Ah, it's awesome (being back). I'm definitely happy I played."
The Spartans were as wild and crazy in the locker room afterwards as their 50-48 victory in West Chicago.
St. Francis (2-3) appeared in control at 50-38 with 5:12 left after 2 free throws by senior Gabe Johnson.
But the Spartans didn't score the rest of the way, missing 6 consecutive free throws to finish 11 for 22.
They survived a well-defended 3-pointer by the Warriors (2-4) that missed from just beyond the top of the key off an inbounds pass with 2.2 seconds.
"We just tried to over-communicate and switch everything. We wanted them to take a contested jump shot and they took a contested jump shot," Lilly said.
"That was a lot of fun. The whole team energy was incredible. We were feeding off the energy from the bench and the student section. You couldn't ask for anything more."
Johnson scored a game-high 16 points but watched the final minutes from the bench after injuring his right ankle battling for a loose ball. Lilly and senior Nick Cooney each had eight points.
Wheaton Academy senior Anthony Polinski, normally a starter, had 13 points off the bench - all in the second half and with three 3s. Juniors Thomas Blum and Jameson Teuscher also were in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
St. Francis' Erin Dwyer and Wheaton Academy's David Osborn are both first-year head coaches for their respective teams.
"I grew up in this area so I'm familiar with Wheaton Academy. I like it because it's a small gym. It's not even fully packed and it's still loud," Dwyer said.
"We did some good things. We executed at the end of the game and as a team we've been through a couple of tough situations already with tight games (this season). Free throws is something we will continue to address in practice."
Polinski made the game's last field goal with 2:11 left, cutting the deficit to 50-47, but fouled out 27 seconds later. After the Warriors' Thomas Blum made the second of two free throws with 32.2 seconds left, the Spartans had a turnover and two missed free throws.
The Warriors scored the game's first seven points and last 10 points but trailed ever since a two-point second quarter.
"I'm proud of our guys' effort in that way -- they did what we asked them to do down the stretch," Osborn said.
"We had 15-plus turnovers and for a team like us we can't have 15-plus turnovers and take the shots that we took. When we give ourselves good quality looks and we make some shots, we're a tough team to beat but when we take poor shots and turn the ball over we just can't stay with good teams."
Polinski's back-to-back threes in the third quarter cut the deficit to 34-31, but the Spartans scored seven straight to enter the fourth quarter ahead 41-31.
Johnson, who scored the Spartans' final six points, was part of last year's victory over the Warriors and several other meetings on the lower levels.
His final minutes of watching Monday came followed years of watching older brother Luke play for Wheaton Academy against the Spartans.
"It (stunk watching Monday), but I knew my team was getting it done so I'm happy about it," Johnson said. "It's good every year. It really is. (Wheaton Academy) play really, really well as a team so we have to find a way to kind of counter that, but it's hard to do. We found a way to get the win and we're extremely happy about it."