St. Francis falters against Nazareth
Trailing by seven points with 6:28 left to play, it felt like St. Francis had Nazareth right where the Spartans wanted.
"That's funny," St. Francis coach Shawn Healy said later. "I think those words came out of my mouth, that we're OK."
St. Francis wasn't OK. Instead of a patented Spartans comeback victory, on this Wednesday in LaGrange Park the Class 3A regional host kept building its lead to the point Nazareth won 62-40.
"They did a great job," Healy said. "They handled the pressure, they converted their free throws, they broke our pressure down for layups. You've got to give them credit because they just played a great basketball game from start to the finish."
It was a far cry from St. Francis' 52-47 win over the Roadrunners for the title of the Glenbard West Holiday Classic.
No. 12 seed Nazareth's college of coaches - head coach John Bonk and aides former Westinghouse coach Roy Condotti and Elmhurst AAU coach Bill Nee - learned from that loss to No. 8 seed St. Francis (14-12).
"We thought we had to do a better job against their pressure, which they hurt us (with) a little bit at Christmas," Bonk said. "We did a lot better job of that, we made a few adjustments. But Pat Kelly, our point guard, played better than obviously he did at Christmas."
"The first time I wasn't really prepared for them, it was early in the season," said Kelly, who handled St. Francis' full-court man-to-man defense, scored 9 points and helped fellow sophomore Ryan Powers notch a game-high 21. "I wasn't used to it as a sophomore, but the last couple of weeks we've been practicing for that mostly."
Through three quarters it was anybody's game. Powers got off to a good start, but so did St. Francis' Dave Palash, Larry Murison and Joe Pfeiffer, a trio that finished with a respective 13, 10 and 7 points.
Nazareth (10-16) entered the fourth up 37-35. Then another Roadrunners sophomore, A.J. Ryan, hit a long 2 and followed a St. Francis turnover by converting a three-point play for a 42-35 lead with 6:28 left.
Out of a Healy timeout the Spartans missed a 3. Nazareth spread the floor and Kelly drove the lane to put Nazareth up 44-35.
With St. Francis 3-point ace Clint Pierce - who scored 27 points in the earlier game but had 3 Wednesday - bottled up, Palash tried to rally.
His pull-up jumper had the Spartans within 46-38 with 3:39 left, St. Francis' only field goal of the quarter as Nazareth closed the game on a 16-2 run for the honor of facing North Lawndale, the No. 1 team in the state, in Friday's regional final.
"I'm just speechless right now," Palash said. "I can't believe my career is coming to an end. It's beyond me. We didn't think it was going to end tonight, and they came out ready to play."
CLASS 3A NAZARETH REGIONAL
Nazareth 62, St. Francis 40
Nazareth - Kelly 3 2-2 9, Herr 1 8-10 11, Letcher 1 0-1 2, Kraft 2 1-2 5, Powers 5 9-11 21, Dret 1 0-0 2, Clarke 0 0-0 0, Ryan 4 2-3 10, Gray 0 0-0 0, Basa 0 0-0 0, Eraci 1 0-0 2. Totals .18 22-29 62
St. Francis - Pierce 1 0-0 3, Palash 4 3-4 13, Murison 5 0-1 10, Ferguson 1 0-2 2, Coyle 1 1-2 3, Pfeiffer 3 1-2 7, Schmitt 1 0-0 2, Ritt 0 0-0 0, Munoz 0 0-0 0, Purdom 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 5-11 40.
Nazareth 15 11 11 25 -62
St. Francis 13 10 12 5 -40
3-point baskets: N: Powers 2, Kelly, Herr. SF: Palash 2, Pierce.
Fouled out: SF: Ferguson, Pfeiffer.