St. Francis came to West Chicago on Tuesday night for its annual tangle with Wheaton Academy, and the Warriors had a surprise for their neighboring private school.

The Warriors closed out the third quarter by scoring the last 12 points to erase a double-digit Spartans lead, and the home team survived a tactical fourth-quarter battle, not to mention a number of missed free throws, to edge St. Francis 47-43 in nonconference boys basketball action.

Wheaton Academy is 10-10; St. Francis fell to 12-6.

After Reagan O’Toole, who led all scorers with 15 points, had a steal and layup with eight seconds to play before halftime to give St. Francis a 22-19 lead at the break, the Spartans appeared to deliver a knockout punch to start the third quarter.

Behind the backcourt thievery of Nick Rizzo, A.J. Palash and Mike Allen, the Spartans came out of the intermission with a 13-4 run as the trio combined for 5 steals, while O’Toole added an equal number of points during the run.

“It was like we came into the third quarter not ready to play,” said Wheaton Academy coach Andy Euler.

The Warriors quickly regrouped, however, as seventh-man Benjamin Euler hit a pair of 3-pointers — his only points of the contest — and Wheaton Academy took advantage of a St. Francis technical foul that not only stopped a Spartans possession in midstream but also led to a 4-point swing.

John Tillery provided Wheaton Academy with its first lead of the game with a pair of free throws to start the period, but St. Francis’ Allen, who finished with 11 points, had back-to-back field goals to give the Spartans a 41-39 lead.

The game assumed a tactical set piece over the ensuing possessions as St. Francis purposely ran clock, only to see Wheaton Academy foil the strategy with consecutive field goals by Alex Cerny and Nate Williams.

The Williams’ score gave Wheaton Academy the lead for good at 41-39, but the contest was far from decided.

There would be only a single field goal, a putback by the Spartans’ Palash, over the ensuing three-plus minutes as the game appropriated a test of wills from the free-throw line.

Jason VanderVeen, who led Wheaton Academy with 11 points, iced the game with a pair of free throws after the Spartans’ squandered two chances in the final eight seconds.

“(Missed free throws have) been our Achilles’ heel the last couple of games,” Euler said. “We hit the right ones at the right time.”

“(It was) a complete and utter lack of basketball maturity on behalf of the St. Francis Spartans,” said St. Francis coach Mike Harper. “They took advantage of everything we gave them.”