Springfield CYO basketball begins

Junior Varsity

St. Dot’s 47

SFA 27

The St. Francis ninth and 10th grade JV basketball squad came out of the starting gates rather slowly this season, opening up with an uncustomary three losses in a row. The good news is, by game four, Coach Milt Hedrick and his young team had seemingly righted the ship - winning two tough games to round out the week. SFA opened the season at home against an always-tough St. Dot's squad, trailing by just 21 to 17 at the half. Opening up against St. Dot's is no easy task in any season, and this young team simply ran out of gas against this talented opponent in the second half, falling by a score of 47-27. Freshman Kevin McKnight led the St. Francis scoring with eight, followed by sophomore Nick Cahill with seven.

Holy Cross 43

SFA 19

Next the Bruins ran into a buzz saw in cross-town rival Holy Cross. This was one of those games where nothing went right, as Coach Hedrick continues to search for the right combinations to put on the floor with a very young and inexperienced team.

St. Anastasia 48

SFA 39

Just a couple of night later, those combinations seemed to click a bit better as the team played much better before eventually falling to St. Anastasia. Four players really stepped up for the Bruins in this game: Kyle Klosinski led all scorers with 13, followed by Dan Smyth with 10, Kevin McKnight with seven and Glenn McCarry with three.

SFA 56

St. Kevin 32

The improvement seen versus St Anastasia's continued as the team bested St. Kevin. Red-hot sophomore Klosinski again led all scorers with 16, followed by Smyth and Mike Dougherty with 10 apiece. McGarry also had a fine game for the green and gold.

SFA 34

St. Madeline’s 31

The winning streak hit two as the Bruins outlasted St. Madeline's. The coach was quick to note that his team is getting better and really rounding into form. He said, "It seems as if a solid rotation is evolving, and the players are really starting to get it." Klosinski again led the SFA scoring in this hard-fought game, netting nine points.

Varsity

St. Dot’s 51

SFA 43

The varsity Bruins started out the season with a hard-fought 51 to 43 loss to St. Dot's. St. Dot's jumped out to an 18-7 first quarter lead, but SFA fought back, trailing by just one after three quarters. St. Dot's just had too much manpower and they put the game away in the fourth.

Juniors led the Bruin scoring, with John Oakley hitting for 13, followed by Jeff Peranteau with 12. Coach Hedrick commented that Peranteau is a "diamond in the rough" and he is full of potential. Pat O'Connell and Ryan McKnight also had nice outings for SFA in this game.

Holy Cross 51

SFA 49

The tough luck continued for the team as they were beaten on a buzzer-beater by Holy Cross. St. Francis had opportunities to potentially put this game away before the buzzer, but they could not find the knockout punch.

Senior Kevin Proska and junior Matt Reichert led SFA in this game with 12 points each. Jeff Peranteau tallied 10.

St. Anastasia’s 53

SFA 48

The string of bad luck continued for the Varsity Bruins as they fell to St. Anastasia's. This game was close throughout, but St. Annie's pulled away in the second half to take this pivotal game.

Kevin Proska had 14 in this contest for the Bruins, followed by Jeff Peranteau with 10.

St. Kevin 58

SFA 51

The varsity Bruins record moved to an uncustomary 0 and 4 with a loss to St. Kevin. Coach Hedrick noted that this game was more of what has been going on with this young but talented team in all four games thus far: little mistakes, bad shot selection, and missed easy shots. All of this adds up to a 0-4 record.

St. Madeline’s 54

SFA 44

Trying every combination possible to turn around the fortunes of his team, the coach got scoring from ten different players, but it was not enough as the Bruins fell once again.

There have been lineup changes; changes in defensive tactics but the offensive lapses that this team faces are inexplicable. Some of the key players on this squad are juniors and that can cause some match up problems in this always- tough CYO Region. But by and large, there is a ton of talent on this 0-5 team, and their fortunes will likely turn around soon.