St. Francis surges to win

GLENDALE — Making a return to the CIF playoffs for the first time since 2005, the St. Francis High boys’ basketball team went a step further and picked up its first postseason victory since 2004.

Keyed by Malik Speed’s team-high 15 points, the implementation of a full-court press and a torrid fourth-quarter performance, the Golden Knights cruised to a 57-41 victory against host Santa Paula on Wednesday evening in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA playoffs.

“We started out a little slow shooting,” said St. Francis co-Coach Ray O’Brien, who, along with co-Coach Jeff Stephens, put in a full-court press in the second quarter that spurred the Golden Knights to a 26-17 lead at the intermission. “That really got our engine going and picked us up.”

After its defeat of Santa Paula (9-18), the second-place finisher from the Pioneer League, the 16th-seeded Golden Knights (11-15), an at-large entry from the Mission League, will face top-seeded Bishop Montgomery, which had a first-round bye on the road Friday at 7:30 p.m.

“We’re gonna enjoy the win,” O’Brien said. “We know we have a very difficult challenge in front of us Friday night. Coming from our league, we know what it’s like to play a lot of very difficult teams. We know what we’re up against.

“For us building up the program at St. Francis, winning a CIF game is a step in the right direction, so we’re gonna enjoy it.”

In addition to Speed, the enjoyment was made possible, in large part, due to the efforts of Dietrich Riley and Tommy Jordan. Riley, the two-time reigning All-Area Football Player of the Year, added 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Jordan chipped in 10 points, as well as seven boards.

Clinging to a 36-34 lead headed into the final stanza, St. Francis put an exclamation on the first-round contest, outscoring Santa Paula, 21-7, in the final stanza.

“We were leading most of the way through,” O’Brien said. “The fourth quarter we blew it open.”