JOLIET - Jnuior forward Greg Leavell and sophomore center Bruce Watson - who both transferred to University of St. Francis this year from Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Mich. - lit up the scoreboard for 24 and 21 points, respectively, to lead the Saints to a 94-84 win over Calumet College of St. Joseph (Ind.) in USF's season opener Wednesday night at the Recreation Center.
The win also was USF head coach Pat Sullivan's 499th career collegiate coaching victory with all of the wins coming in his 34 seasons at the helm of the Saints.
The Saints got out of the gate slowly, falling behind 13-2 in the first three-and-one-half minutes. But Leavell promptly scored six straight points on a pair of 3-point plays - one the traditional way after a foul and the other on a 3-point shot - and the Saints were quickly back into the game.
USF continued to chip away and finally caught the Crimson Wave at 25-25 and took their first lead of the game at 32-30 on a layup by sophomore forward Lukas Zebrauskas (Stagg H.S./Palos Heights, IL). That bucket was just one of a six made by Zebrauskas in a perfect first half in which he came off the bench and made all six of his field goal attempts. He finished the half with 14 points, just one fewer than Leavell.
USF took a 3-point, 46-43 lead into the locker room at halftime and only relinquished the lead twice in the second half at 51-50 and 55-53 in the first five minutes of the final period. The Saints pushed the lead to 7 at 67-60 at the 11:19 mark and the closest the Crimson Wave could get was within 4 points at 71-67 with 9:50 remaining.
"We got a lot of great play from a lot of guys, especially off the bench. (Ryan) Gunderson, Lukas and (Robbie) Butcher, all three were terrific tonight," said a pleased Sullivan following the game. "And how about the job Bruce (Watson) did in the second half? He had a great game as well.
"After the game, we asked, ‘Who would you give a game ball to and we came up with a bunch of names. That's a good thing and talks about tonight's total team effort," added Sullivan.
Watson was star of the second half as the big post player (6-7, 250) scored all 21 of his points on 8-of-9 shooting to go along with 5-of-5 accuracy at the free throw line.
Leavell narrowly missed a double-double on the night, adding 9 rebounds to his line to go along with his team-high 24 points. Zebrauskas finished the evening with 18 points and sophomore reserve guard Butcher (Stagg H.S./Orland Park, IL) added 11.
Sullivan will get his first shot at win No. 500 on Friday evening when the Saints begin play in the four-team Panther Invitational hosted by Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Mich. The Saints open with Grace Bible College (MI) at 7 p.m. (CST) on Friday. USF will play either host Davenport or Kuyper College (MI) on Saturday afternoon. Sullivan's career record stands at 499-484 since coming to St. Francis back in 1976. He ranks 16th among all active NAIA men's coaches in career victories.
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