LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE — There are going to be bumps and bruises all over St. Francis’ 7-foot-4 junior Cherif Millogo after the way Notre Dame wrestled with him Thursday.
Notre Dame did a good job of smothering Golden Knights sophomore guard Luke Paulus too, and it was all too much for the Golden Knights to deal with in a 71-48 loss.
Notre Dame’s Josiah Nance (12) tries to defend against St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) Notre Dame’s Caleb Ogbu (14) tries to grab the rebound alongside St. Francis’ Will Ellien (10) during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) Notre Dame’s Navorro Bowman (2) takes a shot against St. Francis during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo, right, tries to get the ball past Notre Dame’s Josiah Nance, left, during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Will Ellien takes a shot against Notre Dame’s Zachary White (3) during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) Notre Dame’s Navorro Bowman (2) takes a shot against St. Francis during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cole Ragsdale dribble up the court against Notre Dame’s Caleb Ogbu during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo (24) leaps over Notre Dame’s defense to grab the ball during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Luke Paulus, center, tries to grab the ball against Notre Dame’s Nolin Lewis, left, and Caleb Ogbu, right, during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Leone Avanes (15) tries to protect the ball as he’s during a Mission League boys basketball game against Notre Dame at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) Notre Dame’s Navorro Bowman (2) takes a shot against St. Francis during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo, top, blocks a shot by Notre Dame’s Josiah Nance, bottom, during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) Notre Dame’s Josiah Nance (12) looks to the basket as he’s defended by St. Francis’ Will O’Connor (3) during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cole Ragsdale, right, takes a shot against Notre Dame’s Tahj Skinner, left, during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) Notre Dame lines up during a prayer before the start of a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) Notre Dame’s Navorro Bowman, left, begins to fall over after stealing the ball from St. Francis’ Luke Paulus, right, during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) Notre Dame’s Ilan Nikolov (21) looks for an open teammate to pass to during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) Notre Dame’s Tahj Skinner tries to finish the layup against St. Francis during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo warms up ahead of a Mission League boys basketball game against Notre Dame at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo (24) is introduced during the opening ceremony during a Mission League boys basketball game agains Notre Dame at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo warms up ahead of a Mission League boys basketball game against Notre Dame at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo, center, towers over his teammates as he warms up ahead of a Mission League boys basketball game against Notre Dame at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo warms up ahead of a Mission League boys basketball game against Notre Dame at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo (24) tries to defend against the inbound during a Mission League boys basketball game against Notre Dame at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) Show Caption1 of 24Notre Dame’s Josiah Nance (12) tries to defend against St. Francis’ Cherif Millogo during a Mission League boys basketball game at St. Francis High School in La Cañada Flintridge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer) ExpandSt. Francis showed some growth when it played nationally ranked Sierra Canyon to a close loss, 50-47, last week, but it showed the growing pains of a young squad against Notre Dame, which improved to 15-6 overall and 2-2 in the Mission League.
Millogo finished with a team-high 16 points to go with 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists, but he was held to just four points in the second half.
“All credit goes to them, they were great, they were physical,” St. Francis coach Todd Wolfson said. “We got to do a better job coaching and figuring it out. This is all part of learning.”
Notre Dame started to frustrate Millogo at times, who is going to have to get used to teams looking to take away his size with double teams and physical play.
Notre Dame’s Navorro Bowman led all scorers with 23 points in their 71-48 victory over St. Francis. He talked about it. pic.twitter.com/aGDjgs6hJ1
— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) January 16, 2026
“They pushed and grabbed and held his jersey, and he’s going to get that,” Wolfson said. “It’s part of being a target. He’s starting to get his name where it is, and people want to have a piece of him. We’ve got to grow and learn from that experience.”
St. Francis (18-4, 2-2) trailed for much of the first quarter, but fought back to make it a tied game, 28-28, with a minute left in the half.
But Notre Dame finished the second quarter with five straight points to take a 33-28 lead at halftime, and it continued the run — which reached 12-0 — to start the third quarter.
St. Francis never recovered. It was outscored 24-9 in the third quarter to fall behind 57-37.
It got worse in the fourth quarter, as the Golden Knights fell behind by 30 points.
Notre Dame’s NaVorro Bowman, a 6-4 junior guard with offers from California, Penn State and Illinois, finished with a game-high 21 points. He also did some of the tough work on defense by guarding Paulus.
“Aside from (Millogo), we took away their guard (Paulus), that’s their main floor facilitator,” Bowman said, “and it was my job to take that away.”
Millogo was able to score early. He had an eye-popping dunk off a pass from Paulus in the first half. But Notre Dame made some adjustments at half to slow him down.
“Our motive was to hit him (Millogo) down below, and don’t let him dominate the game,” Bowman said. “In the beginning he got going but we stopped all that in the second half.”
Notre Dame didn’t shoot particularly well, but it made 13 3-pointers. Zachary White had 13 points and Tahj Skinner and Ilan Nikolov finished with eight points apiece.
Norte Dame coach Matt Sargeant thought his team’s effort for 32 minutes was the difference.
“We had a game plan, and we always want to give full effort, and we did that,” Sargeant said. “Luke Paulus is a phenomenal guard, he’s one of the best in the Mission League. It takes a lot to get him frustrated. I don’t know if we were successful doing that, but we did everthing we could.”
St. Francis coach Todd Wolfson talked about the defensive job Notre Dame did on his guards and big man Cherif Millogo in a 71-48 loss pic.twitter.com/Q8x0NeHok4
— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) January 16, 2026
Notre Dame coach Matt Sargeant watched his team turn Thursday’s game against St. Francis into a rout in the second half, winning 71-48. He talked about it. pic.twitter.com/puzbwQ5QDi
— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) January 16, 2026
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