St. Francis basketball wins in Wolfson’s return to Chaminade

Following an exchange of pleasantries, Todd Wolfson walked to the bench ready to coach the St. Francis High basketball team.

It wasn’t an easy walk for Wolfson, whose team faced Chaminade on Monday in a Mission League contest.

Wolfson returned to Chaminade for the first time since coaching at the school for the previous seven seasons, which included winning a state championship in 2014.

A case of nerves for Wolfson vanished quickly and St. Francis held on for a 61-53 victory in front of a near-packed house.

“There have been two times when I was nervous before a game: the day we played in the state championship game and tonight,” Wolfson said. “It’s great to come back here and see so many people who have been supportive to the program.

“I didn’t need directions to the bench, though it would be on the other side of the court. We knew coming in here that it would be quite a battle and it turned out that way. I’m just happy for our team to get the victory.”

St. Francis (7-18, 3-8 in league) received 14 points apiece from John Stephens and Joey Walsh to complete the two-game season sweep of Chaminade (11-14, 1-10). The Golden Knights posted a 48-44 win against the Eagles on Jan. 22 at St. Francis.

St. Francis, ranked 14th in CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA, held a 39-23 lead early in the third quarter on a layup by Daniel Scott before staving off a valiant comeback by Chaminade.

The Eagles, ranked 15th in Division III-A, pulled to within 51-50 with 1:40 left in the fourth quarter on a basket by Tino Mobley Jr. before the Golden Knights closed out on a 10-3 run.

The Golden Knights held a 51-41 advantage with 3:38 remaining following a three-point play by Omari Moore.

St. Francis held a 54-53 advantage with 34.1 seconds left when the Chaminade bench received a technical foul after Brett Gangi was fouled. Gangi, who finished with 11 points, made three of four free throws to make it 57-53.

“They fought back and we made some key free throws down the stretch,” said Wolfson, who went 142-48 at Chaminade from 2008-15.

Stephens, who finished with nine first-half points, said the Golden Knights wanted to make Wolfson’s return a successful one.

“We wanted to come out hard and win it for him,” said Stephens, who helped the Golden Knights end a four-game losing streak. “He told us before the game to go out there and just have fun.

“We were all juiced up early and Chaminade came back and made some big shots. We just want to finish up strong and try to make the playoffs.”

Walsh also provided St. Francis with a boost, making three straight three-pointers to give the Golden Knights a 17-4 lead late in the first quarter. St. Francis made five three-pointers in the first quarter.

“We were hot early with our shooting,” said Walsh, who had all three of his three-pointers in the first quarter. “We stayed with it down the stretch.”

Chaminade received 15 points from Aidan Dolan and 14 points and six assists from Josh Hauser.

St. Francis will wrap up the regular season at 7 p.m. Wednesday with a league home game against Alemany.

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Charles Rich, charles.rich@latimes.com

Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich