Guerin falls to St. Francis and Chicago Christian
By Danny Carlino Contributor January 30, 2012 4:28PM
Guerin's Joe Binkowski puts up a shot over several Chicago Christian defenders, during Saturday's game.| Jerry Daliege~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 3, 2012 8:29AM
Guerin dropped a pair of games last week, falling to Wheaton St. Francis and Chicago Christian. On Jan. 24, the Gators lost 71-38 in Wheaton before dropping a 57-36 decision at home to Chicago Christian in their Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division game on Saturday night.
They were never really in the game against St. Francis, but Guerin did show signs of life against the Knights on Saturday.
Chicago Christian went on a 9-0 run to take a 22-4 lead with just three minutes gone in the second stanza, but the Gators (3-12, 0-6) then started a furious comeback led by sophomore Joe Binkowski. He scored seven of his team-high 11 points in the final 3:30 of the quarter to bring the Gators back to within six points at halftime.
“We dug ourselves quite a hole from the get-go,” said Guerin assistant coach Jim Duszak, who took the reins in place of head coach Marcus Green, who missed the game for family reasons. “I just chalk it up to youth. We play a lot of underclassmen, but I won’t use it as an excuse.”
Guerin scored the first three points of the third to cut the lead to just three and did so again with 2:15 left in the quarter on sophomore Anthony Marra’s three-pointer. He finished with nine on the night. Chicago Christian would recover in time, though, scoring the final four points of the period and the next nine overall to start to pull away in the fourth.
“We have a difficult time getting started,” Duszak said. “It’s more than physical. It’s mental. It takes us a while to feel like we belong. When we do, things improve as they showed. Chicago Christian is a senior-laden team, and when they got in tough spots, they had an answer. “
It didn’t help the Gators chances to be without three-point threat Ricky Santiago for the game. Guerin had to press and get most of its points in transition, but the Gators couldn’t produce enough to keep pace with one of their main scorers in street clothes.
The Gators return home for the next three games, starting with a neighborhood battle with Elmwood Park on Feb. 6.
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