Glynn Watson gets St. Joseph going against de Sales in second quarter

St. Joseph 76, St. Francis de Sales 49

THE SKINNY

St. Joseph got off to a slow start Friday, trailing 20-19 after one quarter, but dominated the rest of the way to open play in the Chicago Catholic League with a victory in Westchester. The Chargers (5-0) outscored the Pioneers 21-8 in the second quarter to take a comfortable 40-28 halftime lead and the game was never close again.

TURNING POINT

Junior point guard Glynn Watson assisted on the first three baskets of the second quarter to spark a 6-0 run that put the Chargers ahead for good at 25-20 with 6 minutes, 58 seconds remaining. St. Joseph closed the first half on a 10-2 spurt.

THE STAR

The 6-foot Watson scored a game-high 18 points, but also shined in many facets of the game. He added eight assists, six rebounds and two steals.

BY THE NUMBERS

St. Joseph continued to demonstrate the balance that has keyed its impressive start to the season. The Chargers had four players averaging double figures in scoring entering the game, with Watson and Jordan Ash averaging 16 points, Nick Rakocevic contributing 15 points and Joffery Brown averaging 13 points. Brown added 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals Friday and Ash chipped in with 12 points. St. Francis (2-2) was led by junior Tyler Streeter (11 points), junior Derrick Dawson and senior Kemari Simmons (eight points).

QUOTABLE

“We had matchup problems early because they went small. I was surprised. We had to figure out who was going to defend who since we play man-to-man most of the time. We broke the game open real quickly by running the ball up the court. I was pleased with how we came out in the second half and just blew it wide open. It was an important win because it was a conference game at home and we only have five conference games at home.” – St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore