Smith's super half carries Leo by Friars

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Leo coach Noah Cannon knows that point guard James Pointer has become a marked man.

He needed someone else to step up and for one night he found his man in the form of Isaac Smith III, who led the host Lions to a 65-58 victory over Fenwick Saturday night in a hard-fought Catholic League North battle.

"Everybody has their night on this team," Smith said. "I slept a little longer today and it was my day to pick the team up."

The key point in the game came in the last half of the third quarter. No. 7 Leo (13-2, 1-0) broke open a tie game with an 13-4 run to take a 44-35 lead at the end of the third quarter. Smith scored eight of those points including two three-pointers.

Smith was on another plane in the second half. The junior guard scored 20 of his 22 points and was 7-for-9 from the field, including making all five of his three-point attempts. That effort was needed as Pointer was forced to the bench with four fouls and was limited to 10 points for the game.

Fenwick (6-6, 0-1) battled to the very end and drew as close as 59-56 with 49 seconds left to play on a three-pointer by Michael Loni. But Leo made enough free throws to put the game away.

Darwin Rogers Jr. contributed 12 points and eight boards for the Lions.

Evan Okrzesik led Fenwick with 20 and Xavier Humphrey added 17.