Leo Vs. St. Francis de Sales – Basketball Commentary – By Dan McGrath.

Leo 79, St. Francis de Sales 62  
Catholic League crossover at St. Francis on February 4

The Leo Lions may well have looked at St. Francis de Sales’ 6-17 record and thought, “Well, this will be easy,” going into Tuesday night’s Catholic League crossover game at St. Francis.

 It was not. The Lions (16-9) earned a 77-62 victory, but they had to work for it. 

Work hard for it.

St. Francis’ guards were quick enough and aggressive enough to stay with Leo’s guard line, and the Pioneers had superior size up front. They used an unconscious barrage of three-point shooting to erase a seven-point halftime deficit and seize a three-point lead with just over three minutes of the third quarter remaining. 

 At that point the Lions decided this was a game they were not going to lose. They’d reclaimed their own three-point advantage before the third quarter ended, then put the hammer down in the fourth, putting up 24 points and pulling away behind Ethan Jackson’s 10 points (including three three-pointers) and Karon Shavers’ eight.

 Shavers had 11 points in the first quarter on his way to a game-high 23. Jackson finished with 20, including five three-pointers, and Dontae Bell had 12 points and six assists.

St. Francis got 17 points from Jacob Thompson, 11 from Reggie Patton and 10 from Marcus Haliburton. 

 The Lions shot a season-high 31 free throws, converting 25 and going 16-for-19 in the second half. Stephen Barze, in his third game back from a knee injury, was 8-for-8 at the foul line and had four rebounds and three steals in the fourth quarter alone, the type of performance that bodes well for the Lions’ playoff chances. 

 “It was kind of ugly, but we won, and we’ll take the ‘W’,” Coach Jamille Ridley said. We kept our poise when they ran at us and we were good in  the fourth quarter.”  

 No chance of the Lions being overconfident in their next three games beginning with Loyola (20-6) visiting the Lions Den for Alumni Night on Friday. They’re at Mt. Carmel (21-5) next Tuesday before entertaining St.Ignatius (21-4) on Friday, February 14.