St. Francis stays in SCC race

The St. Francis basketball team displayed the heart of a champion Friday night.

With their leading scorer, Ryan Coyle, sidelined after getting sick in the locker room at halftime, the Spartans (16-6, 7-2) regrouped and used a 12-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to get past Aurora Christian, 62-53, in Suburban Christian Blue action in Aurora.

While it remains to be seen whether the Spartans can catch conference leader Wheaton Academy, the victory kept them a game behind the Warriors in the loss column heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

"We still think that maybe we can make something happen in the conference," said St. Francis coach Bob Ward. "At 7-2, we need a little help."

Things began to happen in threes for the Spartans, who broke open a 40-all deadlock with their 12 unanswered points.

Zach Roswold (12 points) gave St. Francis the lead for good by draining a 3-pointer from the top of the key before Jason Pisarski's steal and eventual 3-point play moments later extended the margin to 46-40.

Andrew Kimball, who paced the Spartans with 15 points, connected for his fifth 3-pointer of the game and Brian Spahn (10 points) capped the run with another 3-point play, making it 52-40 with 4:35 remaining.

"We just talked (to the kids in the locker room) about it going from 40-40 to 46-40," said Ward. "We had four real quality possessions defensively where we got out in the passing lanes and pressured the ball."

Nick Donati added 12 points and a team-high 7 rebounds for the Spartans, who were without 6-6 senior guard/forward Coyle (4 points) for the last 2 quarters but still wound up sweeping the season series from the Eagles (18-7, 5-5).

"Coyle was hurt," said Ward. "He took a shot that we didn't realize early in that game and threw up at halftime. He's coming off a major concussion over the summer so we were going to take every precaution. I don't know if he has a real good idea what happened tonight."

St. Francis enjoyed an 18-5 edge at the free-throw line while also shooting 42 percent (8-of-19) from 3-point range.

"We knew we had to pick it up because Ryan (Coyle) was out," said Roswold. "We just bonded as a team, worked our butts off, and came out with a win."

Ward agreed.

"It's just a great win," said the coach. "These kids were real tough tonight. I'm real proud of them because Coyle is their leader. The rest of the kids felt like they really wanted to do something for Ryan."

Jake Hanson paced the Eagles with 14 points, while Ryan Suttle and C.J. Schutt added 11 and 10, respectively.

"We just didn't have the energy on defense that was going to be required to stay with them," said Aurora Christian coach Steve Hanson. "We continued to allow penetration, and they penetrated and kicked pretty well. They made us pay.

"They play as good a defense as we've seen all year," added Hanson, whose team opens Class 2A regional action next week in Somonauk. "For whatever reason, it's just tough for us to get into anything against them."

Suttle provided a spark for the Eagles when he banked in a half-court buzzer-beater to tie the game at 22-all.

But the Spartans weren't stunned by the turn of events.

"I can't tell you how many times that has happened to us this year," said Ward. "The first thing we said in the locker room at halftime was, 'we've seen this before.' We've seen three-quarters court shots go in this was only a little past half-court."