Glenbard West stops St. Francis

Glenbard West and St. Francis each got something out of their debut at Glenbard West's 14th annual Holiday Classic.

Glenbard West got the victory on Monday, though.

The Hilltoppers lost a big lead to the no-quit Spartans before holding on to win 67-56 in a well-attended tourney nightcap.

Glenbard West led 40-14 early in the third quarter and 49-30 after three quarters.

"It got a little too close for me personally, but it was nice that we were able to pull that out. Just another win," said Glenbard West forward Justin Pierce, who scored a game-high 21 points with 12 rebounds.

Glenbard West (9-0) dominated action until St. Francis (2-7) caught fire with Nick Kurtyka, Nick Cooney Tim Lilly and Will Rowan. The Spartans got it started with defense, forcing 7 fourth-quarter turnovers.

"This is too good a team to run around and press every possession, so we said, let's just pick our spots," said St. Francis coach Erin Dwyer.

Rowan hit a jumper with 1:38 left to play to trim Glenbard West's lead to 61-55. That gap remained 30 seconds later when the Hilltoppers' Sam Noland converted a three-point play. St. Francis missed two 3s and turned the ball over.

"Our idea was to cut it in increments of five or six at a time. We made it exciting, so it was good. I'm proud of our guys," Dwyer said.

Ten Glenbard West players scored, guard Alex Passi with 15 points. The 6-foot-6 Pierce drew his third foul with five minutes left in the third quarter, and sat the first four minutes of the fourth quarter until times grew tense.

Even with a 31-14 halftime lead Pierce came out on fire. He and 6-5 Connor O'Shea made it 42-16 in less than three minutes of the third quarter.

"I think you saw us get on a little bit of a roll there, a couple putbacks, we were crashing the boards," Pierce said.