St. Francis basketball rains three-pointers in rout of Renaissance Academy
LA CAÑADA — The St. Francis High boys’ basketball team possesses a number of players who aren’t shy about shooting from long range.
That was evident Tuesday afternoon when the Golden Knights took on a No. 1-ranked Renaissance Academy team in an opening pool-play contest of the La Cañada Holiday Classic.
St. Francis drained 15 three-pointers and five players finished in double figures in a 77-42 rout of the Wildcats at La Cañada High.
“The coaches really have helped us in knowing when to take the three and not just to shoot whenever,” said Malakhi Jensen, who had four three-pointers and 18 points off the bench for the Golden Knights. “It’s all because of our teammates who get us the passes when we’re open so we can take the threes.
“We have a few guys who can shot the three-pointer pretty consistently. That’s nice because maybe if I’m not shooting the ball that well, I can find them and they can shoot it.”
The 15 three-pointers isn’t even a season high for St. Francis (2-4) under first-year coach Todd Wolfson. The Golden Knight converted a school-record 23 in a game against Bellarmine-Jefferson on Dec. 5.
“What is really great about this team is that it’s a different guy who can step up on any given night,” said Wolfson, who helped lead Chaminade to a CIF Southern Section Division III state title two seasons ago. “That makes us hard for teams to defend because they can’t have a game plan for just one guy.
“I’ve been here at St. Francis for four and a half mounts now and these guys know what a good and a bad shot are. They know that they can let it fly if they have a good one and we preach that to them.”
St. Francis, which is tied for 13th in Division IV-A, also received 16 points and three three-pointers from Brett Gangi, 12 points from John Stephens and 10 each from Cole Kenyon and Joey Walsh. Kenyon also had 10 rebounds and Gangi had eight rebounds and two steals.
Renaissance Academy, the top-ranked team in Division VI, was able to keep pace with St. Francis early despite shooting poorly in the first quarter. The Wildcats converted just one of 12 field goal attempts in the opening quarter. However, the Golden Knights weren’t able to make a substantial run early, leading, 16-8, after one quarter.
The Wildcats began the second quarter with more proficient shooting, making their first three shots from the field to trail by just four, 20-16, with 6:27 remaining. But the Golden Knights responded with a 10-0 run and, when Stephens scored with a layup with 4:24 left, St. Francis increased its advantage to 14, 30-16.
“Today was the first day that we had everybody back, so that was nice,” said Wolfson, who has a handful of players that were on the school’s CIF semifinalist football team. “I think that made a big difference for us morale-wise and spirit-wise. We really came out and we really played hard. …I’m proud of the guys for that.”
The Golden Knights kept up the pressure in the remainder of the second quarter and went into halftime with a 37-20 lead.
St. Francis began to blitz the Wildcats in the third quarter and went into the final stanza with a 56-35 cushion before cruising in the fourth quarter.
Thomas Aruskevicus paced the Wildcats with 17 points.
