A different role for Logan Johnson this season

St. Francis graduated nine seniors after last season including such stalwarts as Peter Hewitt, Noah Stapes, Curtis Witt, Gabe Azdich and Darius Thomas. That team finished 25-3 overall and 14-0 in the West Catholic Athletic League.

This 2016-17 season portended to be a rebuilding effort due to those hefty personnel losses. At least to most.

Not Tyler Johnson.

The 6-foot-3 junior put the Lancer squad on his back and St. Francis carved out a 18-9, 8-6 season thus far, with close league losses by one point, two points and three points.

So what has changed with Johnson and his role?

"We had a lot more players last year and my role was bringing energy," Johnson recalled. "Whatever I have to do to get on the floor, I'll do. I treat the game with the utmost respect. Now, it's 'you're our guy' and I have to show up every night and produce and get the guys to show up."

He continued, "the change in my offensive game is that it wasn't my job to score last year and, this season, I played more of a forward guarding a bigger guy. But if coach needed a bucket, I'd come off a screen and score or create for someone else. In the last seconds, I want the ball in my hands."

Johnson just keeps going and going.

"I play with a lot of heart, character and emotion and I bring energy. I bring it everyday. I want people to remember me as that guy. My teammates are my family and I really care about them. One of my jobs is to motivate each player. For certain players, I can tell them to step it up and they get it. With others, I tell them that I'll help them with anything."

He added, "A lot of college coaches have told me to never lose my competitive nature because there's not enough of it around."

A devotee of Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook and Allen Iverson because of their fierceness on the court, Johnson explained, "I get some of my competitive fire from watching them. I looked up to them from a young age."

As to pressure of stepping into a more critical set of duties as well as encountering the razzing that brings, He said, "I love it, I feed off what people say. When we play against Serra and Bellarmine, I feed off whatever the Sixth Man groups yells at me. You can't show weakness or give advantage. I want to show you can't break me down. If I make a mistake, it's reset and let's go."