Boys Basketball: St Edward too much for Elgin Academy

Updated: November 23, 2011 9:28PM

Elgin Academy dug itself a big hole early, and was never able to cut into the St. Edward lead as the Green Wave came away with a 71-39 win at the Westminster Christian Tournament.

The Wave (2-0) held the Hilltoppers (0-2) scoreless in the first quarter, forcing seven turnovers and building a 17-0 lead heading into the second period.

The Hilltoppers finally got on the board when Tom Tunca connected on a short jumper at the 7:48 mark in the second quarter, and they trimmed the lead to 14 but that is as close as they would get.

Senior Eddie O’Halloran came out hot in the third quarter, scoring the Wave’s first eight points and tallying a total of 14 points in the quarter while knocking down three 3-pointers.

“Eddie is a senior leader, and he needs to be ready to hit those shots from the outside and he did that tonight,” said St. Edward coach P.J. White. “We ran a few different quick-hit plays to set up for the outside shot, and he did a nice job knocking them down.”

The good shooting helped offset a solid defensive quarter by the Hilltoppers, as they came out in the second half with great energy defensively and forced seven turnovers for the quarter.

“We made an adjustment at halftime and wanted to speed things up, and we applied some good pressure defensively, but we need to do that for an entire game,” said Elgin Academy coach Dewayne Robinson.

The big early lead allowed White to play his entire roster, and 11 players scored for the Wave. O’Halloran led the way with 22 points, while Zack McQueen tallied nine points off the bench.

“We’re playing well right now, playing well as a team and we’ve been able to get a lot of kids into these first two games, which helps us moving forward,” said White.

For Elgin Academy, top scorer Connor Flexman was held to just a pair of free throws in the first half, but he bounced back to finish with a team-high 16 points. Jon Busano added 10 points off the bench, as he provided a spark in hitting a pair of 3-pointers.

St. Edward will take on host Westminster Christian at 7 p.m. Friday with a chance to win its pool and play for the championship. Elgin Academy takes on Luther North at 3:45 p.m. Friday.

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