By Bill Bray
FREMONT – They say a basketball contest can be a war of scoring runs. Thus was the case at the “Purple Pit” Friday night as the St. Francis Knights earned their first victory 56-48.
After taking off to a 6-0 lead to start the game, Fremont Ross witnessed a team on a mission. The Knights went on a 12-1 run, after a time out, to end the first quarter with a 12-7 lead.
In the second quarter, Ross closed the margin two one point at 14-13 before the Knights went on another 9-0 run to end the first half with a 23-13 lead.
The third quarter was when the the Knights all but put the game away as they outscored Ross 22-6 over the eight minutes. With all eyes on St. Francis at this points, the seas parted and back came a fighting band of Little Giants.
Before the final quarter came to an end, the gutsy Little Giants scrapped, clawed, and fought their way led by senior Jaeyden Bulger and juniors Kaden Holmes and Ayden Carter. But Bulger was a man possessed as he played a major role in the comeback that almost wiped out the huge Ross deficit. By the time the game ended, Ross had outscored St. Francis 29-11 in the final quarter.
Statistics for the game: Fremont Ross was good on 18 of 74 shots, 4 of 24 from three-point land and 8-16 from the foul line. Individually, Ayden Carter led Ross with 16 points, and Kaden Holmes along with Carter Rodriquez got into double figures with 10 points apiece.
For St. Francis, Te’lir Sanders finished with 18 points. 12 of those came on the 12-1 run in the first quarter. Freshman guard, Jameson Heck had 17 points. The big story for the Knights was post player Martin Beredo. The 6-7 senior unofficially blocked 15 of Fremont Ross’ 74 shot attempts though only scoring five points. His impact was certainly felt on the Knights defensive end without question. The same as Bulger’s play impacted Fremont Ross’ 29-point fourth quarter. He finished with only eight points, but his defensive play in the final eight minutes almost made the huge deficit disappear.
“We shot it poorly for three quarters,” a disappointed John Cahill said after the game. “But we showed a lot of guts to come back in the fourth quarter to almost save the contest.”
Ross (6-10, 3-7) travel to St John’s Tuesday to take on the (10-6, 5-5) Titans.