St. Francis dumps Walther Lutheran

The shots might not have been falling, but St. Francis will take a win any way it can.

A cold shooting night wasn't enough to keep the Spartans out of the win column as they earned a 44-32 victory at home against Walther Lutheran on Friday while also moving themselves above .500 in the Suburban Christian Conference standings.

"We got all the looks we wanted to get, we just didn't finish them at times," St. Francis coach Shawn Healy said. "I don't think this was our best game. We executed, but the ball just wasn't dropping for us."

Chris Stevens knocked down the game's only 3-pointer to give Walther Lutheran (6-13, 4-3) a 3-0 lead. The Broncos held a 5-4 advantage midway through the first quarter before a basket by Ryan Coyle put St. Francis (10-9, 4-3) up 6-5. It was the Spartans' first lead of the night, which they would never relinquish.

They built their margin to 22-15 at halftime as Walther Lutheran was held to just one field goal in the second quarter, only six in the first half and 11 for the entire game. St. Francis was held to 15 made field goals on the night and no 3-pointers.

"I thought we did a good job defensively," Healy said. "We talked about containing and talked about making (Walther Lutheran) take most of their shots from 15 feet and beyond, and I thought we did a good job of that."

The closest the Broncos got in the second half was 6 points after Sean Cotton's free throw cut the Spartans lead to 25-19 in the third quarter. Eric Stout was fouled beyond the 3-point arc just before the third quarter buzzer, leading to a 2-of-3 effort at the free-throw line and a 29-20 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

St. Francis held a 12-point lead on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter, including the game's final score. Coyle scored 9 of his game-high 17 points down the stretch.

"We just continued to grind it out," Coyle said. "We knew our shots weren't falling, so we knew we had to buckle down defensively and help out each other when they would drive to the basket."

Stout was the only other Spartan in double figures as he finished with 10 points on the night.

Shaquille Cockrell led Walther Lutheran with 9 points.