Cherif Millogo puts on a show as St. Francis basketball defeats Alemany

LA CANADA — Having a player like Cherif Millogo is fun for the St. Francis boys basketball team.

The 7-foot-4, junior center from Burkina Faso has put a lot of eyes on the school’s program, from rival coaches to college scouts to even children who come out to root for him at each home game, hoping to get a glimpse and say hello to a potential future NBA star.

Millogo delivered to his fans Friday night as he scored 30 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked seven shots in St. Francis’ 58-45 win over Alemany in the Mission League.

It was the first Mission League win for St. Francis (17-3, 1-1) since 2024. The Golden Knights had lost their previous nine league contests.

While getting that much-needed win was a relief for St. Francis coach Todd Wolfson, he spent part of his time after the game ensuring Millogo’s eager fans would get to greet him.

“It’s awesome,” Wolfson said about young children waiting on the court after the game for a chance to meet Millogo. “The best part about it is that he’ll stay out here all day to shake hands and do things because that’s the just kind of guy he is.”

“I saw him on the bench (after the game) taking photos with little kids,” said St. Francis sophomore guard Luke Paulus. “That was really fun.”

Millogo scored 10 points in the first half as the Golden Knights took a 24-21 lead into the locker room. But he wasn’t able to quite establish himself in the paint as much as he would have liked despite having about a one-foot advantage over Alemany’s defenders.

That changed though early in the third quarter as Millogo was able to frequently position himself under the basket early even while being double-teamed at times.

He scored his team’s first eight points. His first two baskets were slam dunks. The next basket was a turnaround under the hoop after receiving an in-bound pass. The next was an alley-oop dunk when sophomore forward Will Ellien lobbed the ball from under the basket to Millogo who was nearby to slam it home. That gave St. Francis a 32-26 lead.

Ellien found Millogo again for an alley-oop dunk later in the quarter that put St. Francis up 38-26.

“It’s so easy to play with (Millogo),” Ellien said. “Someone that size, you’d think they’d be selfish. But he finds me on cuts. He’s so easy to lob to. You throw it up and it’s a dunk every time.”

Ellien had a nice game himself, scoring 14 points and hauling in 12 rebounds. Both he and Millogo scored all but two of St. Francis’ 19 points in the fourth quarter as they helped fight off an Alemany charge.

Alemany (14-6, 0-2) pulled within two points at 41-39 and later 43-41 before the Golden Knights closed the game with a 15-4 run.

Ellien stole a pass and drove for a layup that he made while being fouled. He connected on the subsequent free throw to put St. Francis up 47-41. Millogo then scored seven straight points for his team to put St. Francis up 54-44. One of those baskets included a 12-foot turnaround jumper from the baseline as Millogo showed he can also score outside of the paint.

His final bucket was a dunk after he had blocked a shot. Sophomore Cole Ragsdale grabbed the ball following the block and later threw the ball into Millogo under the basket where he dunked it.

Paulus scored eight points for the Golden Knights. He hit the team’s only two 3-pointers.

Alemany was led by senior guard Tyler Vuille, who scored 15 points. Senior forward Samuel Mbingazo had nine points. No other Warrior scored more than five points.

Alemany will take on Harvard-Westlake in a Mission League game Wednesday. St. Francis will play Crespi that same day.