St. Francis runs out of magic

St. Francis still had some of its late-season magic left Friday, just not quite enough to knock off a talented Riverside-Brookfield squad.

The 14th-seeded Spartans, fresh off an upset of No. 4 Wheaton Academy, scored the game's first 8 points and led the No. 5 Bulldogs 10-2 midway through the opening quarter of the Class 3A Wheaton Academy regional title game. But R-B (21-5) had just too much firepower and ended the Spartans' campaign with a 62-51 victory.

Guard Larry Murison kept the Spartans (14-14) in the contest in the first half with a trio of 3-pointers, while fellow senior Dave Spahn did his best to keep them alive by knocking down three 3s in the second half. But R-B, which advances to its home court for next week's sectional, picked up 21 points apiece from star guards Sean McGonagill and Ryan Jackson. McGonagill had a trio of 3s and 4 steals, while Jackson burned the Spartans' defense with a number of cat-like quick cuts to the basket.

"They've got so many weapons offensively," an emotional St. Francis coach Shawn Healy said. "McGonagill is such a special player - they're a team of runs, and we had a hard time with that tonight."

With Murison opening the game with a 3-pointer and Mark Schmitt following with a conventional three-point play, St. Francis got off to a quick start. But that 10-2 lead turned into a 15-14 deficit after one quarter as McGonagill had three baskets and Billy Vandemerkt dropped home a 3-pointer.

Murison added a pair of 3s early in the second quarter on his way to scoring 13 of his team-high 20 points through two quarters, but the Bulldogs fought back for a 27-26 lead at the half and extended that to 42-35 after three quarters.

"I could tell a bunch of our guys were nervous," McGonagill said of his team's tough start. "That 8-0 run kind of knocked us in the head and we knew we had to step it up."

St. Francis used a balanced attack to hang tough throughout the game as Murison led the way with his 20 points, Joe Pfieiffer had 11 points and Spahn and Schmitt 9 apiece. R-B, however, countered each Spartans run with a big basket or two of its own.

"We played with them pretty much the whole game and we played hard to the end," said Murison, who missed the first half of the season with a broken ankle before helping St. Francis rebound from a 3-9 start to finish 14-14. "But in the third and fourth quarter they hit a lot of shots."

Healy made it clear afterward that he would miss this year's crop of seniors both on and off the basketball court.

"It's a special group and they're great young men," he said. "They're enjoyable to be around and they work so hard. These guys represent our program so well."

The regional crown was the Bulldogs' first since 2002 when assistant coach Tim Brasic was playing for the school.