Down the road, maybe, the young Leo Lions will learn to win games like this.
Utilizing superior quickness and a lot of want-to, the Lions battled bigger, stronger, older St. Francis of Wheaton to a standoff that required overtime to resolve at Leo on Tuesday night. Neither team led by more than five points during regulation, which ended in a 41-all deadlock.
But a second-half tendency to play “hero ball”—too much individualism—spilled over into the extra session. St. Francis ran off seven unanswered points while the Lions were dribbling into crowds, trying to soar over stationary defenders or forcing ill-advised passes. The Spartans won 53-46, improving to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in their first season of Catholic League competition.
Leo (1-6, 0-4) has lost five in a row.
“Frustrating,” Coach Jamille Ridley said. “It was there for us. But we’ve got to learn to trust each other instead of trying to do it all ourselves.”
The visitors went to the foul line 28 times, converting 15, while the Lions were 5-for-8 on free throws. Ridley attributed the discrepancy to his team’s inability (or unwillingness) to attack the basket.
Leo played probably its best ball of the season in seizing a 28-25 halftime lead, getting 10 points from junior Marlo Moore and eight from freshman Brian Kizer. But “hero-ball” miscues deprived the hosts of their cohesiveness in the second half and allowed St. Francis to stick around.
Leo managed just nine points in the third quarter and nine total in the fourth and in overtime, and a winnable game gradually slipped away.
Moore finished with a season-best 13 points. Kizer scored nine, and fellow freshman Ka’ron Shavers put up eight, all in the second half.
The Spartans got 14 points from Patrick Spahn and 10 each from Dylan Sion and Nico Quaranta.
Another two-game weekend awaits the Lions; they’re at St. Rita (1-9, 0-4) on Friday night and visit Christ the King (6-2) on Saturday.
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