The Riordan Crusaders (11-6, 2-5) picked up a tough 53-45 WCAL road win Friday night at Saint Francis (7-10, 2-5), after having dropped their last four games and six of their last eight.
“We are trying to find ourselves back from a losing deficit right now,” said Riordan coach Rich Buckner. “It’s just one game, and guys played hard against a good Saint Francis team. Hopefully this will be a snowball effect and carry us into the second half of the season.”
The Lancers were flat in the first half for the second game in a row, a point of concern for team leader Khalid Johnson.
“We need to come out with more energy to start the game. This is the second straight game where we came out flat in the first half and we got down quick," Johnson said. "We had to battle our butts off in the second half to come back, and they’re already feeling it, they hit a few shots, they’re more confident, they’re in the lead. They’re controlling the game and we have to fight back.”
The Crusaders were hot from the field, especially in the second quarter when they shot 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-6 from three.
“Shooting was excellent in the second quarter,” said Buckner. “Three point shots were falling for Shaquille Cooper, Frankie Ferrari, Bobby Arenas, but then it kind of went away. That’s what happens with the three point shot. You lose your legs.”
Down 26-14 at the half, the Lancers looked poised to make a comeback.
“Brycen [Carbonel] got us going in the third quarter. He got to the rim and got some easy baskets, and Khalil [Johnson] started getting after people defensively especially in the fourth quarter," St. Francis coach Mike Motil said. "Things started happening for us. It’s tough to get that kind of energy for four quarters, but we’ve just got to keep working.”
The Lancers went on a big 12-1 run which ended when Ferrari hit the first of just two three pointers in the quarter. Shots stopped falling for the Crusaders in that quarter, as the Lancers were much more aggressive on the ball and stepped in front of potential passing lanes.
The biggest defensive change in the third quarter was St. Francis doing a better job closing out on the three point shooters. Cooper, who went 2-of-5 from three in the first half, did not even attempt a triple in the second half. Riordan minimized the damage by ending the quarter on a 7-2 run to hold a 41-34 lead.
The Crusaders carried the momentum from that late run into the fourth quarter, and they looked poise to win after scoring four straight to start the quarter. Motil called a timeout immediately after the second basket to calm his team down.
“We came out aggressively. We had a ‘we don’t want to lose mentality,’” said Khalid Johnson.
Eric Morgan hit a 3-pointer, then Nicholas Keyes got an easy layup on a back door cut. Khalil Johnson continued his ferocious on-ball defense as he stripped the ball and took it down the court on a fast break before being fouled and hitting both free throws to pull within three.
But as they had multiple times before in this game, the Crusaders came up with a big play to slow down the Lancers. Jiday Ugbaja (13 points, 6 steals) took a hard foul and hit two big free throws to give his team a 47-42 lead with 2:27 remaining.
Khalid Johnson answered back to pull the Lancers back within three at 47-44. Then on the ensuing Riordan possession, Chiefy Ugbaja missed a lay up and Morgan tipped the ball away towards the baseline during the scuffle for the ball. Alex Frazier of the Lancers thought that the Ugbaja had hit the ball, so he let it go out of bounds. The Crusaders got the ball and made it a two-possession game when Jiday Ugbaja made a free throw with 1:53 left.
The Lancers weren’t out of it though, as the Lancers made a free throw after grabbing two offensive rebounds on the possession to make it a 48-45 game with 52 seconds left. From there, the Crusaders simply took over the game, forcing two turnovers and scoring off of them.
“We took it one possession at a time,” said Buckner. “Looking at the big picture, it’s ‘oh, wow, they cut our lead from 12 points down to three.’ But it’s still one possession.”
Chiefy Ugbaja finished with 8 points, 5 rebounds, and two blocks for the Crusaders. Geru Mabrey pitched in with 8 points and 6 assists, and Ferrari added 8 points and 5 rebounds.
Khalid Johnson was the only Lancer who scored in double figures, as he finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Khalil Johnson had 8 points and 2 steals, and Carbonel added 6 points.
The Lancers look to right their ship against Valley Christian, while the Crusaders look to carry their momentum to into their date with Saint Ignatius. Both games are January 23 at 7:30 pm.
