The Saint Patrick Shamrocks returned to East Suburban Catholic Conference play with a convincing 54-38 victory over Marian Catholic last Friday at Saint Patrick. Three Shamrocks scored in double figure, and the team gave a solid defensive effort for the win. The Shamrocks are now 10-3 overall and 4-0 in conference play.

The Shamrocks opened the game with a strong defensive effort, shutting the Spartans out for the first six minutes and 40 seconds of the game, while taking a 7-0 lead on a pair of Jerome Robinson lay-ups, and a Jimmy Larkin three-pointer. The Spartans finally scored on their ninth shot of the game, and the score was 7-2 after one quarter.

In the second quarter Marian cut the Shamrock lead to one point at 9-8 with just over five minutes left in the half. An Edmond O’Callaghan basket and another Larkin three made it 14-8 Shamrocks, but the Spartans wouldn’t go away, getting to 14-12 before a late Shamrock run, keyed by three O’Callaghan baskets, made the score 22-14 at the half.

The Shamrocks extended their lead with a 10-3 run to open the second half, including leading scorer, Sam Maniscalco’s first points of the game, put Saint Patrick ahead 32-17. Marian was able to get that lead down into single digits, but never got closer than six points.

A 12-0 Shamrock run in the fourth quarter finally put the game away. Maniscalco and O’Callaghan paced the Shamrocks with 13 points each, and David Campbell contributed 10 points and four steals. For the game, the Shamrock defense held the Spartans to 32% shooting from the field, and Saint Patrick owned the backboards, outrebounding Marian Catholic 38-28.

This weekend the Shamrocks play a pair of E.S.C.C. games, traveling to Carmel on Friday night before hosting Joliet Catholic on Saturday night.