Free throws push Marmion past St. Francis
St. Francis faced a difficult fourth-quarter assignment against Marmion Friday night in Chicago Catholic League North boys basketball action.
The Cadets were virtually in the double bonus for the final eight minutes of the game.
“It's like giving points away when your opponent is in the super bonus,” St. Francis coach Erin Dwyer said.
The Spartans would threaten on more than one occasion, but Marmion never surrendered the lead by converting 17-for-20 free throws in the final quarter to earn a 67-62 victory in Aurora.
The Cadets opened the second half with a 16-4 run to easily overturn a 30-27 halftime deficit in seizing the lead for good. Jon Young drained a 3-pointer for Marmion to open the third quarter, and the Cadets (5-4, 2-1) were soon in command behind fellow double-digit-producers Mick Sullivan and Matt Fletcher.
Without the services of starter Mike Seraphin and sixth-man Josh Ruddy, Marmion turned the tide by forcing the Spartans (2-5, 0-3) to miss 11 of their 12 third-quarter shots.
“It wasn't the 1 of 11 (shooting that bothered me),” Dwyer said. “It was the quality of possessions.”
Sullivan, the Cadets' 6-foot-8 post, had a team-high 18 points. Young hit 10 of the Cadets' 25 free throws to augment Sullivan with 15 points.
Fletcher was perfect from the line to add as many free throws — 4 — as he had conventional field goals in finishing with 12 points.
“That's something we spend a lot of time on,” Marmion coach Joe Currie said of the Cadets' collective 25-for-28 performance. “We push that all time. You have to make your free throws. We knew it was going to come down to that.”
The three Marmion players in double figures were more than necessary to counteract the play of St. Francis' Gabe Johnson. Returning for the first time in the Spartans' last three games, Johnson showed no ill effects from a suspect ankle.
The senior did not miss in the opening half on any of his 6 field-goal attempts and poured in three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter in tallying a career-high 33 points.
“The only thing I care about is winning and my teammates,” Johnson said. “I could care less about how much I score (in a loss).”
“He's a special player for them,” Currie said of Johnson.
But the biggest 3-pointer of the game belonged to the Cadets' Jeff Haas. The junior hit his clutch shot with three-plus minutes remaining after St. Francis closed to within 54-53.
“We came down and St. Francis had a triple team (on Sullivan),” Haas said. “We pushed it out like we're supposed to, and I made the 3.”