DeSales posts 72-58 win by erasing 22-point gap

Saturday, December 11, 1999

By Mark Znidar
Dispatch Sports Reporter

With DeSales getting blown out of its own gym last night, coach Dan Garrick could have fed his players a pep talk along the lines of Red Auerbach, Adolph Rupp or John Wooden.

Instead, Garrick made a few adjustments and let the Stallions feed off the three-point shot, a mad-dog defense and a raucous crowd that wouldn't let them quit.

DeSales, which trailed by 22 points with 4:59 left in the third quarter, hit eight of its 12 treys in the second half to defeat St. Charles 72-58 before a full house in a Central Catholic League opener.

"It wasn't anything I said and there weren't any fantastic adjustments," Garrick said. "We hit a couple of big threes and got the crowd into it. We fed off the crowd."

St. Charles took a 45-23 with just under five minutes left in the third quarter on a short bank shot by forward Matt Porter.

The Cardinals (0-2), who scored the first eight points of the quarter, seemed home free against a flustered DeSales team that committed 22 turnovers in the first half.

That's when the Stallions began forcing turnovers of their own off a man-to-man half-court trap and started hitting three-point shots as if they were gimmes.

The comeback got serious when guard Chris Grove began a string of five Stallions treys within three minutes that cut the deficit to 47-43 with 6:18 left in the fourth quarter.

"We had the place rocking and it was a great feeling," said Nathan Frost, who hit two three-pointers during the stretch. "You've got to give our guards credit. They distributed the ball well."

The offense began clicking when Garrick put Brandon Willis at the point after starter Tony Borghese picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter.

Once the Stallions had St. Charles running to guard the three-pointer, the guards zipped the ball underneath to center Russ Keller. Keller hit three uncontested layups to make it 51-51 with 4:28 left.

"We just wouldn't quit. We got it done," Keller said. "St. Charles played a great first half, but we have the shooters to keep in any game. Once we hit those threes, they had to respect the shooters. That gave me some space."

DeSales took the lead for good, 54-53, on a trey by forward Ben Pinciotti from the top of the key with 2:58 remaining.

After guard Richie McNally hit a three-pointer from the side for a four-point lead, he made eight straight free throws to keep the Cardinals down.

St. Charles coach Wally Teeters said his young team learned something.

"We keep playing halves. We have to play the whole game," he said. "We left them open and they shot the ball well. We also didn't hold our poise.

"This was a typical CCL housewarming. We have to learn how to handle some of these crisis situations."