St. Francis humbles St. Edward
St. Francis set more screens than a general contractor and breezed past St. Edward 68-47 in a Suburban Catholic Conference boys basketball game in Elgin on Friday.
Back cuts for layups were the rule rather than the exception for the Spartans, who carved up the St. Edward defense on 9-of-11 shooting in the second quarter to outscore the Green Wave 22-12 and forge a 37-24 halftime lead. St. Francis (10-6, 5-3) never trailed by less than 11 points in the second half.
"I loved our half-court motion offense," St. Francis coach Shawn Healy said. "We were really sharing the basketball. We got a lot of good backscreen opportunities where we got layups off of them. I was real impressed with that."
The Spartans shot 16 of 28 through the first three quarters of the game. Many of those opportunities were from close range.
"The shot chart probably shows that they had 40 layups and we had maybe 5," St. Edward senior Jim Waclawik said.
There's a reason for that, according to his coach.
"Our defense is terrible, and we work on it, work on it and work on it in practice," St. Edward coach Keith Chuipek said. "At this point in the season, we should be working on individual skills, post moves and things like that. We work on (defense) Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The other day we worked on it all day, but the kids just can't carry it over from practice to the game."
St. Edward (6-12, 2-6) pulled within 17-15 in the second quarter on a three-point play from Steve Martin, but the Spartans answered with 7 straight points: 2 free throws from Joe Pfeiffer (7 points), a baseline drive from Ryan Ferguson (game-high 16 points) and a 3-pointer from Clint Pierce (10 points).
The Spartans put together another 9-2 run before the intermission, powered by back-to-back steals for breakaway layups by reserves Brett Robinson and John Ritt.
Though St. Edward did sink seven 3-pointers in the game, the Wave connected on only 17 of 48 shots overall (35.4 percent).
"We wanted to play tight on their perimeter shooting game, so on screens we wanted to cut over the top and help so they couldn't get those threes off," Ferguson said. "We knew if we could limit them to 1 shot per offensive series and we executed on offense, we'd be able to beat them."
St. Francis didn't just win the rebounding battle; the Spartans owned the boards 33-9. St. Edward managed just 4 offensive rebounds and scored 4 second-chance points, whereas the Spartans grabbed 10 offensive rebounds.
Chuipek shuffled his personnel to start the second half in hopes of better matching St. Francis' speed, but the gambit didn't net results.
"I tried to go small and get some more athletic kids in there, but then we suffered on the boards," Chuipek said. "But no matter if you're 5-5 or 6-4 you still have to box out and play the game. Once we learn to do that we'll be able to compete a little better."
Senior guard Josh Dix led St. Edward with 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Riley Coleman added 10 points, all in the first quarter.
Junior Larry Murison scored 9 points for St. Francis while senior guard David Palash and freshman Ryan Coyle contributed 8 points apiece.