The Saint Francis Lancers took third place in their own Saint Francis Holiday Tournament Friday night with a 52-45 win over Palma. The Lancers, who improved to 7-3 on the season, were led by senior center Drew Dickey, who followed up an explosive performance in the semis (26 points, 10 rebounds) with another double-double (13 and 11) on Friday.
Senior guard Jerod Diaz added 13 points for the Lancers, who concluded the non-league portion of their schedule, and open play in the hyper-competitive WCAL Tuesday night (7:30 pm) at home against Valley Christian. The Chieftains dropped to 4-7 with the loss.
St. Francis was down 9-8 at the end of the first quarter, but took the lead at the beginning of the second quarter and didn't let it go. The Lancers started off cold, going just 2-of-13 from the floor in the first quarter, while the Chieftains hit on 4-of-7 of their attempts. But the Lancers seized control of the game by hitting 7-of-16 shots in the second quarter to take a 25-18 lead into the break.
Junior forward Noah Allen had 20 points and three boards for the Chieftains, but Palma was unable to get consistent offense from any other players. The Lancers managed to win despite being out-shot from the floor. Saint Francis connected on just 20-of-56 (36 percent) from the field, while Palma hit 17-of-42 (40 percent). The Lancers also managed just 9-of-20 shooting from the free-throw line.
St. Francis relied on a full-court press and tenacious man-to-man defense to stifle the Palma attack. On the other end of the court, junior point guard Khalid Johnson ran the offense efficiently, finishing with a game-high eight assists.
