Highlanders' aim is true against St. Francis

Win a huge Suburban Catholic Conference game, earn a target on your back.

That was Driscoll's take Saturday, targeting St. Francis a day after the Spartans beat SCC leader Aurora Central Catholic.

Driscoll edged host St. Francis 48-45 in Wheaton to burst back into the race. At 7-2 in the SCC, both Driscoll and St. Francis trail 9-1 ACC by 1.5 games.

"We're back in the hunt," said Highlanders coach Nick Latorre, who's got ACC again Feb. 2 and St. Francis Feb. 9, both in Addison. "We went from kind of the depths to, OK, we're back in it, we control our own destiny."

Driscoll center Jake Lindfors shook a career oh-fer at Spyglass Athletic Center with 15 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter.

"We knew what was on the line with conference and everything. I mean, this was a hostile environment," said the 6-foot-10 Albany recruit, who had 16 rebounds, 8 offensive. "We knew what we had to do and just got it in our mind that we weren't losing no matter what."

St. Francis (12-6) used its typical patient offense and switched defenses to post leads of 12-7 after a quarter and 24-19 at halftime.

Relaxed ball security and mounting foul trouble to 6-foot-6 center Bob Vonderhaar and forward Brian McMahon -- the only Spartan in double figures with 20 points, plus 11 rebounds -- spelled trouble.

In the third quarter Driscoll guard David Schwabe pushed the ball, and 6-7 Matt Kaban scored 9 of his 15 points mainly in transition.

"I'm running the floor, I see Dave, I know he's going to take it to the basket," Kaban said. "I just got down there and he found me."

Driscoll (14-7) cut St. Francis' lead to 34-30 entering the fourth quarter. Lindfors converted successive three-point plays, falling on his backside while nailing one shot, for Driscoll's first lead, 36-34.

"He's such a good player, eventually he's going to establish himself," said St. Francis coach Shawn Healy. "I thought we did a good job holding him in check for a while."

Lindfors' spin move earned a 44-37 Highlanders lead with 2:08 left to play. A McMahon three-point play cut it to 44-40, and Dan McCoy's 3 had St. Francis within 46-43.

Free throws by Lindfors and Justin Hejza made it 48-43 with 16 seconds left.

Driscoll committed 4 turnovers and none in the second half, and it made 16 free throws to St. Francis' 7.

"It's definitely a letdown, but we're going to forget about it," Vonderhaar said. "It's not going to affect us, and we get them again."