Sheldon, Sheehy key TCSF win

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Devin Sheehy (11) had 20 points for St. Francis against Elk Rapids. Record-Eagle/Keith King

February 2, 2012

Glads have a tough LMC road schedule ahead of them

BY DENNIS CHASE dchase@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Thu Feb 02, 2012, 07:54 AM EST

TRAVERSE CITY — It was a hard-fought battle for 32 minutes.

But it was a 29-second window late in the fourth quarter Wednesday night that propelled Traverse City St. Francis to a 69-62 Lake Michigan Conference basketball win over Elk Rapids.

After Luke Morrison hit a shot to cut the Gladiators lead to two, 59-57, St. Francis scored six points in 29 seconds to put the game away.

"That was huge," Gladiators coach Keith Haske said. "That's what we hope will happen at some point. We just keep applying pressure, pressure, pressure, hoping we'll get a little run like that."

Point guard Devin Sheehy and center Sean Sheldon ignited the flurry. Sheehy took an in-bounds pass, drove the lane, scored and was fouled with 2:02 left. He missed the free throw, but Sheldon grabbed the rebound and scored. After an Elk Rapids turnover, Sheldon was fouled following up a shot. He hit both free throws, pushing the margin to eight, 65-57, with 1:33 to go.

That was the game.

"Sean and Devin came up big when it was time to be big," Haske said.

Sheldon finished with 28 points, Sheehy 20.

Elk Rapids guard Luke Morrison led all scorers with 32 points. He scored his team's last 10 points in the third quarter as the Elks trimmed an 11-point deficit to four to start the fourth quarter. St. Francis never relinquished the lead, though, in the final eight minutes.

"I expected it to come right down to the wire," Sheehy said. "They're a really good team. It was a hard-fought win."

The victory puts St. Francis (10-1, 7-0 LMC) two games up in the league race.

"It's a great feeling to be two up in the conference," Sheehy said. "But we're just excited with this win right now."

Philip Hayes added 17 points for the Elks (7-3, 5-2 LMC).

"It was a good close game," Haske said. "Very physical. It was a battle.

"Coming into the season I wouldn't have said they (Elks) would be one of the top teams, but it's pretty evident they've become a top team in our league. They scrap. They're physical. And when you've got Luke there, he's such a good basketball player, they've got a chance to win every night."

Elks coach Luke Johnson was pleased with his team's effort.

"I thought our kids came and battled," he said. "Obviously, they're much bigger than we are. I thought our kids played hard. We had our chances. We just couldn't get over that hump. I think (Michigan) coach Beilein said it when they went to Ohio State: 'Either you've got to be better than the team you're playing or you've got to play a perfect game in order to win on the road.' That was the way it was today."

Foul trouble hurt the Gladiators. Elk Rapids was in the bonus, starting with 7:08 left in the fourth quarter. It went to a double bonus with 4:47 to go. The Elks hit 8 of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter.

"We've got to clean it (fouls) up," Haske said.

Morrison, meanwhile, scored 15 in the first half, 17 in the second.

"He's a great kid," Johnson said. "He's reaping the benefits of the time he's put in. We spent a lot of hours in the gym. He's really blossomed as a leader for us."

St. Francis hosts Kalkaska on Friday, but also has some key league games on the road in February.

"It's nice to be up two (games), but it's far from over," Haske said. "We have to go to Boyne City, Harbor Springs, Grayling and Elk Rapids. Those are tough places to play."

The Elks are one of the teams trailing St. Francis by two games.

"They've got to come to our place," Johnson said. "That's not bulletin-board material. They know it. They've got to go to our place, they've got to go to Grayling, they've got to go to Boyne. They've got a tough schedule ahead of them."

St. Francis won the JV game 38-27. Jake Duell scored eight for the Gladiators, Mitch Miller nine for the Elks.

The Gladiators claimed the freshman game 60-36 as Michael Olm netted 20 and Jack Krcmarik 13.