St. Francis Finds Itself at a Loss Without Pruett, 63-45

Normally, Jaason Pruett does it all for the St. Francis High basketball team.

Thursday night, all he did was sit on the bench and clap.

Pruett, in foul trouble almost from the opening tip, didn’t have much to clap about though. The host Golden Knights lost, 63-45, to St. John Bosco in a matchup of the Del Rey League’s top teams.

“Every time he twitched, he got a foul,” St. Francis Coach John Jordan said of Pruett, who picked up his third foul in the first quarter.

Pruett, a three-year starter, played only about eight minutes and scored seven points. He fouled out with 5 minutes 1 second to play.

The Golden Knights missed him dearly. They shot poorly, rebounded poorly and had trouble with the Braves’ trapping press.

“Jaason Pruett is the absolute key to our press break,” Jordan said. “We have to keep Jaason on the floor.”

That’s where he was when the teams met earlier this month at St. John Bosco. St. Francis stunned the Braves that night, 64-62.

Besides Pruett’s absence, two other things were different Thursday: Dave Craig, St. Francis’ leading scorer and rebounder, was also in foul trouble all night and scored only 12 points. In the first meeting with St. John Bosco, he had one of his best games of the season, scoring 27.

St. John Bosco’s James Cotton, who has signed to play for Cal State Long Beach, missed the first meeting with an ankle injury. And though he was still less than 100% Thursday, he contributed 10 points.

But the star for the Braves was junior Jelani Gardner, who led all scorers with 18 points.

“They’ve got some fine athletes,” Jordan said. “They’re 17-2. Who the heck are we?”

Until Thursday night, the Golden Knights (11-7, 6-1 in league play) were alone atop the Del Rey League. But the win moved the Braves (17-2, 6-1) into a first-place tie. Both teams have five league games remaining.

The Golden Knights jumped to an early 7-2 lead, but St. John Bosco, ranked fourth in the Southern Section in Division II, then turned it on.

Gardner scored 10 points, including three on a 24-foot jump shot, as part of a 17-2 Brave run.

The game was marred by fisticuffs 18 seconds before halftime. St. John Bosco’s Marlo Lopez and St. Francis’ Ryan Weisenberg were battling for a loose ball when they started shoving each other. Ramirez took a swing at Weisenberg and was ejected.