Marmion cruises past St. Edward
Just when Marmion Academy's boys basketball team figured out how to use its size advantage in the post against a very short St. Edward squad in the first half, the Cadets immediately abandoned it and went back to the perimeter in the third quarter.
They simply had to, because they barely missed.
The Cadets made 6 of 7 from 3-point range, including six straight, and expanded a 3-point halftime lead to 16 en route to a 71-52 Suburban Christian Conference crossover win in Elgin Friday night.
Marmion (7-6) went 9 for 17 from deep while shooting 63 percent in the second half after shooting just 33 percent in the first.
“I think that's the tough thing to guard about our team,” said Cadets coach Ryan Paradise. “That's been our strength all year is our shooting. I don't expect to be shooting 100 percent, but I expect to be shooting well.”
The Green Wave (4-9) came out in a 2-3 zone to open which allowed the Cadets to go hi-low with their posts. Graham Glasgow (6-foot-7, 295 pounds), who saw his first action of the season after recovering from some football injuries, played a vital role with 7 points in the first half, as well as his brother Ryan with 4. St. Edward had no answer for the brothers of destruction as Ryan Glasgow totaled 10 rebounds (2 offensive) and Graham Glasgow 6 (5 offensive).
But once the Cadets got out into transition and away from the Glasgows, Marmion sizzled. In the first 2:30 of the third, they nailed 4 straight 3-pointers, 2 from Alex Theisen, 2 from leading scorer Eddy Grahovec (20 points, 4-for-6 from 3-point) and 2 from Nick Scoliere deeper into the quarter, giving Marmion a 16-point advantage.
“It was a great third quarter,” Grahovec said. “Every so often you get into the flow of the game, you get on fire. We were just hitting our shots, we just lit it up.”
After hanging around in the first half the Wave was outscored 22-9 in the third. Add that to their 10 for 35 shooting in the second half and it ended with coach P.J. White lecturing his team for 25 minutes afterward.
“Right now, we're trying to get past that first half. I don't know what to call that, it's like a sticky point,” White said. “We're playing really well in the first quarter, we're playing hard in the second quarter, and we just falter in the third.”
“We don't stay focused,” said St. Edward's Michael Ellis, who led the Wave with 17 points. “It's how it's been all season. We're winning at the end of the first; we're tied. We're down a couple at halftime and third quarter they just come out on that run.”
St. Edward fell behind as much as 24 and lost the battle on the glass 37-18.