St. Francis Claims Second Straight Men's Basketball Tournament Crown
UNIVERSITY PARK, Ill. --- University of St. Francis claimed its second straight Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament crown on Monday night, outdueling top-seeded and regular-season champion Governors State University for the second year in a row, this time by an 81-73 count at the Athletics & Recreation Center on the campus of GSU.
The No. 2-seeded Saints (23-7) used an 11-2 run in the closing 86 seconds to secure the victory and gain the league's second automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round. Nine of those points came at the free throw line, where the Saints were 9-of-10 during that stretch and 19-of-24 for the game (.792).
USF shot well throughout the contest, finishing at .538 (28-of-52) after opening with a .552 mark over the first 20 minutes, including nailing 5-of-8 three-point attempts, to gain a 39-38 edge. Governors State, meanwhile, finished the night at .446, but struggled in the closing half (.406, 13-of-32).
Neither club could find its long-range shot in the second half, going a combined 3-for-17 from three-point territory after both teams shot no less than 50 percent in the first 20 minutes.
The contest was tight throughout with neither team leading by more than eight points. For St. Francis, that was the game's opening four minutes, where they scored the contest's first eight markers, as well as the final score. Governors State (22-9) rallied for the next nine points to gain its first lead and the back-and-forth resulted from there. In the end, there were a total of nine ties and eight lead changes.
St. Francis looked to take control late in the first half when it built a 39-32 in the closing 1:11. Governors State, however, scored the final six points of the half to trail by just the one-point margin at the break.
The Jaguars then took the lead after the first four minutes of the second half and held that advantage for much of the closing 16 minutes. USF held a brief lead for two minutes midway through the half before Governors State went back up 69-65 with 5:39 to play. The Saints then took the lead for good on Merrick Small's layup with 1:26 remaining in the contest.
Small led St. Francis with 21 points and five steals, while also contributing eight rebounds. Damarcies Moore played big for the guests, as well, using his 15 points and 12 rebounds to land a double-double. He was also a perfect 9-for-9 at the foul line.
Governors State's Javonte McKenzie led all scorers with 22 points. Maxwell Marius added 12 markers and eight rebounds.
Both teams had four starters score in double figures with St. Francis falling just two points short of making it a perfect 5-for-5.
Both teams advance to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round March 13-14. Pairings and sites will be announced on Thursday at 6 pm.
The final results of the tournament follow:
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Game #1: No. 1 seed Governors State 76, Indiana Northwest 67
Game #2: No. 4 seed Trinity Christian 84, No. 5 seed Indiana South Bend 68
Game #3: No. 2 seed St. Francis 99, No. 7 seed Saint Xavier 78
Game #4: No. 6 seed St. Ambrose 78, No. 3 seed Olivet Nazarene 75
Friday, February 27, 2026 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #5: No. 1 seed Governors State 73, No. 4 seed Trinity Christian 69 --- OT
Game #6: No. 2 seed St. Francis 95, No. 6 seed St. Ambrose 90 --- OT
Monday, March 2, 2026 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #7: No. 2 seed St. Francis 81, No. 1 seed Governors State 73