No. 1 St. Francis protects top spot

There was no No. 1 letdown for the St. Francis boys basketball team Tuesday night.

The Lancers ( 19- 2, 11- 0 West Catholic Athletic League) got 20 points from Noah Stapes and held off a late St. Ignatius push to grab a 61- 50 victory in San Francisco.

St. Francis, which moved into The Chronicle’s top spot this week for the first time this season, led 51- 33 with 7: 29 left, but a 17- 4 run by St. Ignatius cut the deficit to five before the Lancers won going away.

In addition to Stapes’ big night, St. Francis once again got big contributions from its bench as Curtis Witt ( 11 points) and Gabe Adzich ( 10 points) reached double figures. Point guard and Nebraska track commit Darius Thomas added nine.

Adzich was a fixture in St. Francis’ starting lineup early in the season, but after suffering a concussion in the league opener against Riordan, he has come off the bench.

That change in roles hasn’t stopped him from making major contributions.

“I just try to come off the bench with as much energy as I can,” Adzich said.

One of his offensive rebounds effectively put away the game.

St. Francis, leading 55- 50 with 39 seconds left, missed the front end of a 1- and- 1, but grabbed the rebound.

Witt then sank two foul shots to start a 6- 0 run to end the game.

St. Ignatius ( 13- 8, 5- 6), ranked 16th, was led by 18 points from 6- foot- 9 center Will Emery, who drained three three- pointers. Sophomore point guard Darrion Trammell had nine, including a threepoint play with 42.3 seconds to go to cut the deficit to 55- 50.

# 2 De La Salle- Concord 65, FoothillPleasanton 42: Coming off a 50- 46 loss to longtime football rival Centennial- Corona at the Nike Extravaganza, the Spartans ( 21- 2, 11- 0 EBAL) used a 45- 22 second- half run to win going away at Foothill ( 17- 6, 7- 4), which got 16 points by Seth Cobb. USF- bound Jordan Ratinho and Connor O’Dea had 15 points apiece for DLS. Nikhil Peters added 14 and strong defense on Cobb, who scored eight late. Foothill was coming off a 58- 53 double- overtime win over then- seventh- ranked Monte VistaDanville.

# 4 Serra 58, # 14 Mitty 54: John Besse had 16 points, Lee Jones 12 and Jake Killingsworth 11 as Serra ( 17- 4, 9- 2) fought back from a 10- point fourth- quarter deficit to win in overtime at Mitty ( 11- 10, 6- 5), which missed 10 of 17 foul shots. Sophomore Riley Grigsby scored eight of his 15 points early in the fourth quarter to give Mitty a 10- point lead but the Monarchs couldn’t hold it. Mike Diaz led the home team with 16 points. Teammate and second- leading scorer Nick LaBruna re- injured his shoulder in the fourth quarter and didn’t return. Four of Mitty’s WCAL losses have come by a combined nine points. # 6 Salesian- Richmond 59, St. Patrick- St. Vincent- Vallejo 58: Sophomore Jamario Bibb’s putback with three seconds left proved to be the game- winner for the visiting Pride ( 21- 4, 9- 0), who got 22 points from James Akinjo and 10 by Brandon McGhee. Bibb had nine. Tavian Henderson had 22 and Baidi Kamagate 14 for SP- SV ( 15- 9, 6- 3).

# 12 Menlo- Atherton 68, Burlingame 41: Blake Henry had 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Christian Fioretti added 14 points, Lucas Fioretti 13 and Eric Norton 11 as host M- A ( 21- 2, 11- 0 PAL South) used an 18- 2 run in the second quarter to win in a rout. Vinny Ferrari had 19 points for the Panthers.