The Saint Patrick basketball team split a pair of East Suburban Catholic Conference games last week, losing to 22nd Ranked Marian Catholic by a score of 52-42 on Tuesday night and defeating Benet Academy 43-36 on Friday night.

On Tuesday the Shamrocks headed south to take on Marian Catholic in a battle between two top-25 teams. At the time, the Shamrocks were ranked 22nd, and the Spartans ranked 24th by the Chicago Sun-Times. In the opening quarter the Shamrocks took an 11-9 lead with Michael Giller scoring six points with Sam Maniscalco adding the other five points. The Spartans came back in the second quarter, tying the game at 21 as the first half ended. Sophomore Josh Whitaker sparked the Shamrocks in the second quarter with six points. Saint Patrick took a slim lead in the third, behind eight more points from Maniscalco. The teams headed into the fourth with the Shamrocks leading 32-31. The Spartans’ Vance Cooksey scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth as Marian outscored the Shamrocks 21-10 in the final period for a 52-42 victory. Maniscalco paced the Shamrocks with 18 points in the loss.

Friday night the Shamrocks looked to bounce back when they hosted the Redwings of Benet Academy. An early 8-0, featuring three-pointers by Giller and Maniscalco, gave Saint Patrick a 10-3 edge in the first quarter, but Benet narrowed the gap to one at 10-9 by the end of the period. The second quarter was a back and forth affair, with neither team able to take control. A late dunk by Edmond O’Callaghan sent the Shamrocks into the locker room with some momentum and the game tied at 18. The Shamrocks carried that momentum into the second half, scoring the first seven points of the third quarter to establish a lead that they would never relinquish. Once the Shamrock lead reached seven points, Benet never got it down to less than four points.

In the fourth quarter Saint Patrick extended their lead to 12 at 37-25, but Benet fought back, getting it down to a two-score game with possession of the ball at 41-36 with under a minute remaining. Giller rebounded a Benet miss, and iced the game with a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining.

Maniscalco paced the Shamrocks with a game-high 18 points, and Giller didn’t miss a shot all night, going three for three from the field, including a pair of threes, and making all four of his free throws en route to 12 points. O’Callaghan was five of six from the floor on his way to 11 points. The Shamrocks were seven of ten from the floor as a team in the second half.

This weekend the Shamrocks hit the road for a pair of games, taking on conference rival Notre Dame on Friday night and traveling to Elk Grove for a non-conference game on Saturday night.