Hilltoppers use depth to beat St. Francis

Quite a duel between St. Francis' Brian McMahon and Glenbard West's John Shurna on Saturday.

Both hit 11 field goals and scored 29 points on the first day of the sixth annual Glenbard West Holiday Classic at Biester Gymnasium.

Yet after Glenbard West beat the Spartans 71-51, the coaches of both teams pointed to Hilltoppers who were not the 6-foot-8 Northwestern-bound Shurna.

Players like Shane Bryant and big Chris Watt, like Chris Cochrane and Kevin Smith, who all chipped away with 3-point baskets that hadn't been quite as easy to come by for Glenbard West (5-4).

"It's been our best game by far offensively and that's the entire reason," said coach Tim Hoder.

"We can't just have Johnny do all the scoring, everybody else has to make some plays. The kids played confidently, they shot well, and that's what we're working on."

St. Francis (5-4) had its own 3-point threat in Dan McCoy, whose 2 first-quarter 3s enabled the Spartans to hang within 19-10.

But while St. Francis coach Shawn Healy went first with 6-6 Bob Vonderhaar then with the 6-2 McMahon and then with a box-and-1 against Shurna, all the attention allowed others to shine.

Watt's 8 points was the closest to Shurna but overall the Hilltoppers shot 26 of 47, 6 of 13 from 3-point range.

"You try to take Shurna away and you're going to give some stuff up," Healy said. "We gave up some perimeter shots and they knocked them down."

Still, after a Ryan Ferguson basket from a McMahon assist had St. Francis within 26-21 midway through the second quarter, Shurna led a 14-2 run to close the half.

He scored inside then had a steal and was fouled to give him a pair of free throws.

Bryant scored off his own steal then Shurna scored 5 points for a 37-23 edge. Smith's 3 capped the half for a 40-23 lead.

Glenbard West led 53-33 late in the third quarter when McMahon single-handedly brought St. Francis back within 60-46 with 4:30 left to play.

"Brian's a great player, and he made some terrific plays out there, whether steals or boards or 'and-1's.' Brian's quick," said Shurna, who added 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.

St. Francis' rally produced an encore by Shurna, two straight baskets to build Glenbard West's lead to 64-46 with 3:38 left.

"We just have to be stronger with the ball," said McMahon, who grabbed 9 rebounds with 4 steals.

"It's tough to stop (Shurna) on defense, too. We tried everything we could, but we couldn't stop him."