St. Francis pulls off upset of Wheaton Academy

St. Francis' 3-9 start to the season doesn't matter much anymore.

The 14th-seeded Spartans shocked No. 4 Wheaton Academy 48-45 in Tuesday's Class 3A Wheaton Academy regional semifinal, taking the game to their archrival from the start and holding off the Warriors at the finish.

"We played great defense," St. Francis senior Larry Murison said. "We were up in their face the whole game, and we got a lot of transition off of that. We stepped in the passing lanes a lot. Playing defense really was a game-winner for us."

The Warriors led 13-12 until Spartans senior Mark Schmitt scored with four seconds left in the first quarter. St. Francis gradually built its lead to 9 points entering the fourth quarter, but they never let Wheaton Academy get in front again.

Wheaton Academy (24-3) tried to make its move in the fourth, tying the game at 43 with 4:07 left on a pair of Quinn Gorski free throws and again at 45 at the two-minute mark on a Tim Rusthoven basket. Senior Joe Pfeiffer gave St. Francis the lead for good with a basket at the 1:27 mark, and the Warriors couldn't get any of their remaining shots to drop.

"Once we started getting close, within 2, I thought we had it because we had all the momentum, but they're a tough team," said Rusthoven, who will move on to William and Mary as Wheaton Academy's all-time leading scorer. "Their guards controlled the ball well, and we just couldn't close it out at the end."

"You know a good team like that is going to make a run," Pfeiffer added. "We tried to prepare mentally for that, and fortunately we were able to counter and come out with a win."

The win was the seventh in a row for the resurgent Spartans (14-13), who have a winning record for the first time all season.

"People talk about teams being a work in progress," Spartans coach Sean Healy said. "Well, we're a work in progress at the end of February because we had so many guys injured and we played such a brutal schedule at the beginning of the year that, I kind of knew, or was hoping at least, that our schedule was going to help us toward the end of the year and I think it did."

St. Francis, blown out by Wheaton Academy in January, looked so well prepared for its rematch that it was easy to forget the Spartans had to play a regional play-in game Monday, a 69-36 victory over Montini.

"I think last night helped us," Healy said. "I think getting a game under our belt was critical for us, to be honest with you. It settled us down a little bit, it got us a little refocused."

Meanwhile, Wheaton Academy, one of the best passing teams around, struggled all game, committing an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers, 8 in the third quarter.

"We had a tough week of practice," Warriors coach Paul Ferguson said. "We dealt with a ton of sickness this week. The guys were just out of sync tonight. We were just off all week and it really showed tonight."

Pfeiffer and Schmitt led the Spartans with 11 points, and Murison added 10. Rusthoven was the only Warrior to score in double digits, getting 21 points, 8 rebounds and 7 blocked shots.

"It's a really tough way for us to end the season," Ferguson said. "We were expecting to go a little further than this."