St. Francis claims Glenbard West title with 52-47 win

Some nights you struggle, and other nights it feels as easy as tossing a grape into the ocean.

"When I hit that (3-point shot) at the end of the half, that's when I realized I was on," said St. Francis guard Clint Pierce. "It was good to break out of my slump."

Pierce hit seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points to lead the Spartans' offense, and Brett Robinson came up with the steal of the night in a 52-47 win over Nazareth on Friday.

"Clint worked constantly in the off-season on his shot, lifting, and it's nice when it finally pays off for a kid," said Spartans coach Shawn Healy. "And it paid off tonight."

The win gave the Spartans (7-4) the championship trophy of this year's Holiday Classic at Glenbard West.

The Spartans and Roadrunners went toe-to-toe for four quarters, with neither side building any kind of a lead throughout. Nazareth led by a point at halftime, and the Spartans took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter.

The final quarter followed suit and came down to a pair of Pierce free throws that put St. Francis up 50-47, and then a steal near midcourt from Robinson with 10 seconds left to effectively ice the game.

Robinson was switched in and out of the game for defensive purposes down the stretch, assigned to hound Nazareth point guard Patrick Kelly.

"Coach just told me not to let (Kelly) get the ball," Robinson said. "He came around to get the ball, I saw and took my chance, and just happened to get my hand in."

"Brett does a great job defensively," Healy said. "He's flying all over the place and he puts his body on the line. He's one of those types of kids you just love to have."

Ryan Ferguson gave up 4 inches in height but battled the Roadrunners' post players well and scored 14 points on the night.

"And Joe Pfeiffer had a great tournament for us," Healy said.

"He had 23 for us one night, 14 the next, and he's another guy that's guarding players that are 3 and 4 inches taller than he is."

Pierce buried a pair of 3s in each of the game's final three quarters and was glad to see his squad elevate its play in Friday's title game.

"We didn't play to our potential in the first three, but we came together in this last one," Pierce said.

"One hundred percent, a great high school basketball game to watch," Healy said. "It could have gone either way, and it was a lot of fun."