Men’s basketball: Ed Presniakovas helps St. Francis survive
By Dick Goss dgoss@stmedianetwork.com November 28, 2012 10:24PM
Mark Peters, of St. Francis, pulls in the rebound against Purdue-Calumet at the University of St. Francis, Wednesday, November 18th, 2012 in Joliet, IL | Gary Middendorf~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: December 30, 2012 3:43PM
It was a night for physical achievement, all right.
Cheered on by the crowd, University of St. Francis junior Brandon Collofello from Minooka strained his way into the Guiness Book of World Records at halftime Wednesday, doing 31 Aztec pushups in a minute to begin the process of raising funds for Save My Starving Children.
The Saints’ men’s basketball team, meanwhile, needed help from its young bench to survive a foul fest against Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Purdue Calumet 75-65 at the Patrick J. Sullivan Recreation Center.
Reserve freshman guard Ed Presniakovas (Plainfield South) played throughout crunch time, 20 minutes in all, and scored all nine of his points in the second half.
He scored twice on key putbacks and finished with five rebounds and two assists.
“It feels good,” said Presniakovas, who got extra minutes in part because regular guard Billy Hubly was ill and played sparingly. “Coach (John Baines) preaches to get on the offensive glass. As a freshman, I better do what the coach says.”
Two other members of the USF bench mob, junior forward Kairys Tautvydas and freshman guard Mack Brown (Plainfield East), also contributed. Brown made four straight free throws in the final 1:29 and Kairys scored nine points in nine minutes.
Andrew Lerg led the Saints (5-3, 4-2) with 16 points. Mark Peters added 14 and Chris Miller 10. Purdue Calumet (4-5, 1-3) never led in a back-and-forth second half yet still was as close 63-59 with two minutes remaining.
“This was a slugfest,” Baines said. “It wasn’t pretty, but we kept our composure. We’re young, but I think we’ll be a good team. We’ll be there at the end of the season.”
The game featured 47 fouls. The Saints hit 22-of-34 free throws, the Peregrines 19-of-26.
