St. Francis defense shuts down Montini

Montini coach Brian Opoka had heard about St. Francis' tough defense, but Friday night in Lombard he saw too much of it first hand.

Visiting St. Francis came to Montini and the Spartans' defense put the clamps on the Broncos in a 48-25 Suburban Christian Conference contest. Montini was pressured into 8 first-quarter turnovers while falling behind 20-7.

The game's pace slowed somewhat in the second quarter, but when Montini was held to just four points, the 29-11 halftime deficit was too much to overcome.

"I know early on Bob (Ward, the St. Francis coach) had talked about how good a defensive team he had, and they were," Opoka said of the Spartans. "They are every bit as good as advertised. They guarded everything we did and they really got in our face."

Thanks to seven points from senior guard Sam Thomas early on, Montini trailed just 12-7 following a three-point play by Thomas. But the Spartans (4-5, 1-1) closed the quarter with an 8-0 run capped by a basket by Nick Cooney off a turnover and a steal and layup from Gabriel Johnson.

St. Francis' defense stayed stingy all night, holding the Broncos to single digits in three quarters and allowing a high of 11 points in the third quarter.

"This could be a good defensive group," Ward said. "One of our goals is single-digit quarters. We almost did that in every quarter tonight."

Spartans senior Jason Sullivan had 5 steals on the night, but it was a total team effort on defense. Johnson and William Purdom also had multiple steals as the visitors made life difficult on the Broncos, who dropped to 0-9 on the season.

"They made everything we tried to do very difficult," Opoka said. "The pressure was very heavy. I compliment them. They're a great defensive team."

St. Francis not only came away with a bunch of steals, but the defenders also tipped passes away constantly and made it hard for the Broncos to get things going.

"They were active in the passing lanes and they really mucked it up. I had kids that just couldn't get open. They really bottled it up. Our kids didn't make reads fast enough to counter move what they did."

Mike Mooney gave the Broncos a boost with 8 of his game-high 12 points in the third quarter, but Montini still trailed 39-22 after three quarters and was limited to three points in the final quarter as the St. Francis reserves kept up the tough defense.

Cooney led the Spartans with 11 points - all in the first half - while Sullivan was next with 10 points, 5 steals and 6 rebounds, and Johnson added 8 points.

Ward was happy with his team's defense, but credited the Broncos gritty play with keeping the game close most of the way.

"I thought we were good on the ball. We wanted to pressure them," he said. "It wasn't a real fluid game for us offensively, but I think that had something to do with the fact that they played really hard. They really come out and they get after you too."

But so do the Spartans defenders.