If the St. Francis DeSales High School boys basketball team is a car, its super sophomores aren't the only parts.

But they're certainly important ones.

Forwards Alex Kellogg and Elijah Allen could be described as the pistons that drive the Stallions' engine and point guard Dane Johnson would have to be the keys.

All three were vital to DeSales' 49-40 home win over Bishop Watterson on Friday.

DeSales (7-5, 3-2 Central Catholic League), which had lost seven straight times to its archrival, was able to overcome all the baggage this time with a 19-6 third quarter against the Eagles (3-7, 1-3).

"It wasn't a very good quarter for us," Watterson coach Vince Lombardo said. "They came out and got after us defensively and we had a hard time getting good looks. When we got them, we didn't put it in the hole.

"I thought for the most part our defense wasn't too bad, but we had a few breakdowns. That team, when you're not scoring, can get the ball out and run, and that puts a lot of pressure on you in transition."

Allen scored all 12 of his points in the second half and Kellogg had 10 of his own.

Johnson hit two three-pointers in the third quarter that were huge for DeSales, but he almost didn't play after an ankle sprain in the first half appeared to have possibly put him out of the game for good.

"Watterson's such a big rivalry and it'd kill me if I couldn't play," Johnson said. "We hadn't beaten them in a long time, so I just wanted to be there for the team. It's a big win for us in the CCL and I just wanted to play so badly."

Johnson ended the game with eight points.

"He's a very tough kid inside and he showed a lot of heart tonight," DeSales coach Blair Albright said afterward of his point guard. "I knew he was hurting a lot worse than he was showing, but he knew we needed him to be successful. I thought he came out with such a gutsy performance and I was very proud of him for that."

After playing at a frenetic pace early, the Stallions were able to settle down going into halftime and came out poised to play well in the second half.

"One of our focuses in recent games is that we want to come out and have a good first three minutes of the third quarter," Albright said. "That's something throughout the season we haven't done a very good job of.

"We didn't feel like in the first half we played our best basketball, but we were up four. We've talked a lot about maintaining our poise and I thought we did that well going into the half. We really went after them in the third quarter."

As if they needed any proof that beating the Eagles isn't easy, the Stallions saw Watterson battle back in the fourth quarter, beginning with solid defense.

"We picked it up in the fourth quarter and tried to put some pressure on," Lombardo said. "I thought our guys did a nice job of battling back and really all of a sudden we had a chance."

The score was cut to 48-38 with 54 seconds to play, but a bucket with less than a second remaining was all the Eagles could muster the rest of the way.

Johnson didn't play in the fourth quarter after helping his team to the big lead, but with or without him, the gap was closed.

"You have to give Watterson a ton of credit," Albright said. "They were in a hole and they just fought like crazy to get out of it. You have to be a little disappointed with how we finished that game.

"But it's an emotional time, especially when you've lost seven straight to them, so just getting the monkey off your back and being able to find a way to beat Watterson is a step in the right direction for us."

Ryan Ferst led the way for the Eagles with 15 points, but all but two of those were scored in the first half. Sean Campbell added 10.