St. Francis (IL) News
Sat, Dec 19, 2009 - [Men's Basketball]
Freshman Dan Dispenza registered his first collegiate double-double in Saturday's 61-58 win over East-West University.
CHICAGO --- Junior Justin Richmond and freshman Dan Dispenza both authored double-doubles for University of St. Francis and the Saints "finally got a finish" sending them into the Christmas break on a winning note with a hard-fought 61-58 victory over East-West University at the Robert Morris University Holiday Tournament Saturday afternoon.
The win came just a little over one month after USF fell to the Phantoms, 86-65, back on November 10.
"We finally got a finish," said a relieved USF head coach Pat Sullivan, whose team lost back-to-back leads and eventually games on consecutive nights earlier this month. "Plus, it's a good sign when a team beats you by 20 points and you come back and get them the next time."
USF (3-11) worked from behind for much of Saturday, with its largest deficit, 27-20, coming with just under five minutes remaining in the opening half. The Saints eventually worked that back to three points, 30-27, by the break thanks in large part to Richmond's 10 first-half points.
Sullivan's club grabbed its first advantage of the day five minutes into the second half, but could never push its lead beyond three points. In fact, neither team led by more than two points from the 13:54 mark of the second half until the 2:02 mark. That is when Tristan Therkield (Richards H.S./Oak Lawn, IL) got a layup off of a turnover and Richmond (Highland Community College/Waukegan, IL) followed up with another layup off an East-West miscue to give the Saints their biggest lead of the night, 58-52, with 80 seconds to play.
Just previous to those plays was Dispenza's layup off a Richmond assist to put the Saints up for good, 54-52, with 2:42 to play. It also closed out a big afternoon for Dispenza (Joliet, IL), who notched his first collegiate double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
"I have really been working hard with Coach (Jack) Hermanski and it finally paid off today," said the Joliet Catholic Academy product, who logged his most minutes (28) of the season. "I am getting more and more confident with each passing day and Coach (Sullivan) has faith in me."
Nine of Dispenza's points came in the second half as did seven of his rebounds. He also converted four of his five field goal attempts after the break and 7-of-9 for the game.
Richmond (23 points, 11 rebounds) was much the same making good on nine of his 13 shots from the field one day after USF's inside game struggled in a 55-45 loss to Valley City State University. Richmond also came up big at the free throw line, especially in the game's last minute, where he made three of four charity attempts before stealing a final pass at the end to seal the Saints' victory.
"Dan had a big game for us and Justin had his biggest game yet for us," added Sullivan. "Plus, Dan, along with Michael Cole (Manley H.S./Chicago, IL), got it done on the defensive end keeping (Cliff Manning) in check for much of the night after he beat us the last time.
"That guy can play above the rim."
Another key for the Saints was limiting East-West to just 40 percent shooting from the field (24-of-60).
The Saints return to Loyola University's Joseph J. Gentile Center for their third straight game one week from Monday, this time taking on the NCAA I Ramblers in an exhibition contest beginning at 7 p.m.
The win came just a little over one month after USF fell to the Phantoms, 86-65, back on November 10.
"We finally got a finish," said a relieved USF head coach Pat Sullivan, whose team lost back-to-back leads and eventually games on consecutive nights earlier this month. "Plus, it's a good sign when a team beats you by 20 points and you come back and get them the next time."
USF (3-11) worked from behind for much of Saturday, with its largest deficit, 27-20, coming with just under five minutes remaining in the opening half. The Saints eventually worked that back to three points, 30-27, by the break thanks in large part to Richmond's 10 first-half points.
Sullivan's club grabbed its first advantage of the day five minutes into the second half, but could never push its lead beyond three points. In fact, neither team led by more than two points from the 13:54 mark of the second half until the 2:02 mark. That is when Tristan Therkield (Richards H.S./Oak Lawn, IL) got a layup off of a turnover and Richmond (Highland Community College/Waukegan, IL) followed up with another layup off an East-West miscue to give the Saints their biggest lead of the night, 58-52, with 80 seconds to play.
Just previous to those plays was Dispenza's layup off a Richmond assist to put the Saints up for good, 54-52, with 2:42 to play. It also closed out a big afternoon for Dispenza (Joliet, IL), who notched his first collegiate double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
"I have really been working hard with Coach (Jack) Hermanski and it finally paid off today," said the Joliet Catholic Academy product, who logged his most minutes (28) of the season. "I am getting more and more confident with each passing day and Coach (Sullivan) has faith in me."
Nine of Dispenza's points came in the second half as did seven of his rebounds. He also converted four of his five field goal attempts after the break and 7-of-9 for the game.
Richmond (23 points, 11 rebounds) was much the same making good on nine of his 13 shots from the field one day after USF's inside game struggled in a 55-45 loss to Valley City State University. Richmond also came up big at the free throw line, especially in the game's last minute, where he made three of four charity attempts before stealing a final pass at the end to seal the Saints' victory.
"Dan had a big game for us and Justin had his biggest game yet for us," added Sullivan. "Plus, Dan, along with Michael Cole (Manley H.S./Chicago, IL), got it done on the defensive end keeping (Cliff Manning) in check for much of the night after he beat us the last time.
"That guy can play above the rim."
Another key for the Saints was limiting East-West to just 40 percent shooting from the field (24-of-60).
The Saints return to Loyola University's Joseph J. Gentile Center for their third straight game one week from Monday, this time taking on the NCAA I Ramblers in an exhibition contest beginning at 7 p.m.
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