Saints notch impressive road win

With a number of tough losses already on their slate, things didn't look great for the St. Charles East Saints when two players fouled out in the third quarter trying to contain Glenbard West star John Shurna.

But a funny thing happened Tuesday night after Kevin Senechalle and Jake Krzeczowski picked up their fifth fouls. The Saints went out and played a superb fourth quarter, blanking Shurna until the waning seconds and coming away with an impressive 57-51 road win over the Hilltoppers (8-5).

After trailing 29-25 at the half, the Saints (6-9) used a full-court press to force 5 Glenbard West turnovers and draw even at 44 after three quarters. Saints coach Brian Clodi then mixed up his defenses in the fourth quarter, and Collin Pryor led the offense with a pair of fourth-quarter baskets, including a slam dunk for a 56-51 lead with 22 seconds left to play.

"It's a big win," Clodi said. "These guys work so hard, and we talked about how this is the second half of the season. We played regional basketball tonight, and we wore them down."

Shurna admitted to being somewhat drained after the physical contest. The 6-foot-8 senior had 19 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocked shots and a pair of steals. The Saints may have lost two players to fouls, but they kept sending players at Shurna all night, making him work hard for his opportunities. It was while Shurna caught a breather on the bench in the fourth quarter that St. Charles East extended a 48-46 lead to 54-46 before the Hilltoppers' Kevin Smith gave his team some life with a 3-pointer.

"They're a good team and they stuck to their game plan throughout," Shurna said. "It's a physical game, and I've got to be ready for that. We've got to work on finishing games off."

Pryor came up big for the Saints with 18 points and a key block with his team up 52-48 with less than three minutes to play, but he got plenty of help. Brian Lankton had 11 points and 7 rebounds off the bench, Zack Scott hit two big 3s to score 10 points, and Ryan Suits played all 32 minutes and was responsible for guarding Shurna much of the fourth quarter.

"The fourth quarter seemed to be our problem earlier in the season," Pryor said. "Tonight we kept our composure pretty well even after we lost Kevin and Jake."

Shane Bryant had 9 points for the Hilltoppers, and Chris Watt muscled his way inside for 8 points, but Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder thinks his team needs to keep working on providing more balance to go along with Shurna's points.

"We had a pretty good rhythm going and then we sort of lost it," Hoder said. "When they went to a zone we didn't attack particularly well. John's working so hard. We have to find ways to get him the ball without having to work so hard and we'll continue to work for more balance all year."