Gudino, St. Edward stop Guerin
St. Edward boys basketball coach P.J. White would like to see Troy Gudino play a lot more like he did in the second quarter Friday night.
Gudino scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the second quarter as the rest of the Green Wave struggled from the field. He also hit a key bucket late in the fourth quarter as St. Edward held off Guerin for a 57-48 Suburban Christian Blue victory in Elgin.
“Troy is a guy who goes to the basket strong. When he does that he can score,” White said. “What he does really a nice job at is dishing the ball off and get the ball to his teammates. We would like to see him do that for four quarters and not just once in a while.”
St. Edward (7-10, 2-2) led 14-9 after the first quarter, but committed nine fouls, putting the Gators in the bonus with more than a minute left in the quarter.
With his teammates in foul trouble and the rest of the team going just 1-for-10 in the second quarter Gudino scored 11 points in the final 4:22 of the first half. The Green Wave lead was 2, 14-12, before Gudino scored 9 consecutive points for St. Edward. His driving bucket off the glass with 2:45 left gave the Green Wave a 23-15 lead.
“I saw their defense was overplaying. So I just took advantage,” said Gudino, who admits he sometimes does fade out of the game. “We were struggling for a little bit. I thought we had to step something up.”
Guerin rallied to cut the deficit to 27-24 at halftime and took a 1-point lead twice in the third quarter, the last being 31-30 with 4:42 remaining. Free throws from Zach McQueen and Adrian Ponce gave St. Edward a 32-31 lead. The Green Wave never trailed again, but the Gators stayed close.
Two free throws from Anthony Marra, who led Guerin with 16 points, got the Gators within 2, 49-47, with 3:04 remaining in the game. Gudino hit 1 of 2 free throws with 3:03 left and then hit a baseline jumper with 1:57 remaining to give St. Edward a 52-47 lead. The Green Wave hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 1:06 to seal the win.
“It was a roller coaster game,” White said. “We played well for while, then fall asleep for a little bit. Play well, then go to sleep. To our kids’ credit, they never quit.”
Eddie O’Halloran had 15 points for the Green Wave. Ponce finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds.
Kevin Kross and Dan Siman each added 8 points for Guerin, which did not take advantage of the St. Edward foul trouble in the first half, going just 5-for-12 in the first two quarters.