Norcal report St. Francis

SoCal High School & Prep Report

NorCal Report: San Jose Bellarmine Beats St. Francis--(January 25, 1998)

It's not that we intend to branch out of the SoCal area at all, but our friend Lee Fuller from up in the Bay area got a bit tired of reading about teams he can only dream about. And besides, we thought this report worthy of inclusion if only because of the new of Washington-bound Senque Carey, who's spent more than a little time playing down here in SoCal in several tournaments and camps over the years. So here's Lee's report, which we suspect came from the Mercury News (just a guess), but since he sent it to us, and we really can't verify the source completely we feel somewhat innocent in passing it on to the rest of you. Here it is:

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San Jose's Bellarmine Bells (16-3, 5-0) defeated the St. Francis Lancers 52-38 before a sellout crowd Saturday nite behind a stellar team defensive game. With a balanced scoing attack, led by junior Jeb Ivey's 14 points the balanced Bellarmine team was simply a much better team.

The Bells outplayed the struggling Mt. View team, lossers of three of their last four, from the start. St. Francis scored first, off the opening tip, and then managed only six points thru the next 14 minutes.

With Washington bound Senque Carey hounded by a variety of Bellarmine defenders St. Francis finally reached double figures with 2:34 left in the second quarter bringing the Lancers within 14 24-10. By then the damage was done. Carey's lone basket, a three pointer, can with 1:21 left in the half.

It was the defensive intensity that controled the game and allowed the Bells to complete the first half of the West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) undefeated and ranked #4 in the San Jose Mercury Top 15. The Bells have now won 8 straight.

Carey, the 1997 Mercury News player of the year, injured his left knee and had to be helped off the court in the third quarter finishing with 6 point.

On crutches after the game, he said he bent the knee back while scrambling for a loose ball. "It hurts, it's throbbing,' he said. "It wasn't a good night for St. Francis. But we'll bounce back. I'm hoping I can be back for our next game."

With 11 players scoing, the Bells now seem on track to make a run at the fourth Central Coast Sectional Divsion 1 championship. Coach Patrick Schneider was pleased with his teams effort.

"Every nites a war in the WCAL," he said. "Tonite was our night, but St. Francis is a good team. We'll see them again in three weeks and then we'll be in their house.'

The capacity crowd was strangely silent throughout the night, expecting a close contest, and instead watching the dismantling of a team that had been ranked as high as #2, behind St. Josephs of Alameda as league play began.

Here's the scoring by quarters

Score by Quarters	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
St. Francis	6	7	8	17	38
Bellarmine	10	18	10	14	52

And here's the team scoring and stats:

St. Francis (14-5, 3-3) -- Lyman 0-4-4, Yaeger 1-2-3, Carey 2-1-6, Maguire 2-0-4, Juco 1-0-2, Lemos 2-0-4, Gilliard 2-2-8, Buck 2-0-5, Jackson 0-1-1. Totals 12-10-38.

Bellarmine (16-3, 6-0) -- Harris 1-0-2, Jackson 0-1-1, Lorence 0-1-1, Fernandez 3-0-8, Guerra 3-1-7, Fuller 1-3-5, Ivey 5-2-14, Kovaleski 0-1-1, Seals 2-0-4, Bell 1-0-2, Martinez 2-3-7. Totals 18-12-52.