ST. MARY'S RALLIES PAST CHAMPAIGN CENTRAL

It didn't look good for the Dragons.

The No. 4 small school, St. Mary's (16-3) trailed by as many as 15 points late in the third quarter of its third-place matchup with a talented Champaign Central team at the Belleville East Classic.

But the Dragons rallied in the final minutes of the third quarter and carried it over into the fourth quarter for an electric 70-69 win.

St. Mary's avoided losing consecutive games for the first time this season when senior guard Dominic Mitchell drove the baseline and scored a layup over Champaign Central standout Tim Finke with seven seconds to play. The Maroons last shot attempt missed and the Dragons escaped with the victory.

“Dominic is a guy that I feel has ice in his veins,” St. Mary's coach Bryan Turner said. “That's somebody I feel comfortable with drawing up a play at the end of the game and asking him to make something happen.”

The Dragons were without senior guard Miles Jones, who provides a healthy dose of points, rebounds, leadership and defensive toughness. Jones has not played since Jan. 2 as he recovers from a stress fracture. He is expected to return to the lineup in the near future.

A night after St. Mary's was handed a 97-77 loss by Chaminade, its worse defeat of the season, Turner was happy his team found a way to leave that defeat in the locker room and take care of business against Champaign Central, which has lost tough games to Belleville West (twice) and Vashon.

“They just kept fighting it out, that's all you can ask for coming off a defeat like that (to Chaminade),” Turner said.

The Dragons will be back in action at 6:30 p.m. Friday at St. Dominic (10-7) before traveling to Quincy Notre Dame (13-6) on Feb. 2 and to Class 3 contender Charleston (12-6) on Feb. 3. - David Kvidahl of the St. Louis Post Dispatch