St. Francis-Marmion Rivalry adds memorable game

When a student cheering section starts chanting “Let's play football” at a boys basketball game between St. Francis and Marmion, they're not far off.

“Early in the game someone punched somebody in the face,” Marmion senior forward Jake Esp said on Saturday. “It was a physical game.”

“It's always been chippy,” said St. Francis junior guard Gabe Johnson. “It always has been and it always will be.”

Late in the first half of St. Francis' senior night in Wheaton a loose ball battle-slash-mosh pit erupted. Benches emptied without incident other than technical fouls handed out to both teams.

That out of their system the Suburban Christian Conference rivals settled on determining a winner — Marmion, 50-48.

“I think both teams still played hard after that, but there wasn't any goofiness at all,” said St. Francis coach Bob Ward.

Marmion (11-9, 4-0) led 45-38 with 2:47 left in the game. St. Francis (10-9, 2-2) used 3-pointers by Michael Shaw, Jason Sullivan and Johnson to draw within 50-48 with 2.8 seconds left.

When Marmion inbounded the ball Johnson stole it back in a scramble just outside the 3-point arc. From the seat of his pants, his potential game-winner bounced off the front of the rim as the horn sounded.

“That was a heck of a play he made,” said Ward, and there were several others.

Marmion senior Jordan Glasgow, playing point guard with Jon Young out with an eye injury, hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 0.3 seconds left in the first quarter for a 15-6 Cadets lead.

St. Francis started slow, missing its first 7 shots. By the time the officials calmly handled the late first-half fracas the Spartans had climbed within 24-17.

St. Francis never led but when Sullivan swished a 3 with 6.3 seconds left in the third quarter it was on to something. Instead Glasgow drained a 3 as the third-quarter horn sounded for a 35-29 Cadets lead.

“That was crucial because now they have all the momentum on the (Sullivan) 3, they get a stop and come down, that's like a 5-point, 6-point swing. That's huge,” said Marmion coach Joe Currie.

St. Francis moved within 37-35 with 5:40 to play. Marmion's Hunter Weber made a 3-pointer and a three-point play. Down the stretch Glasgow scored inside and passed to Esp for a layup. Esp added a free throw for a 50-45 lead with eight seconds left.

“It's a fun game to be in,” said Glasgow, who led all scorers with 20 points. “Very physically taxing, though.”

Esp scored 15 points with 8 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Sullivan's 16 led St. Francis followed by Johnson with 14 and Shaw with 13.