St. Edward's Duffy surpasses 1,000 career points
For one shining moment on Tuesday night, with 1:01 left on the clock in the first quarter, the spotlight was on St. Edward senior Nick Duffy.
The crowd erupted when Duffy went up strong on a baseline drive for layup to surpass the 1,000 career point mark.
However, the rest of the night belonged to Riverside-Brookfield senior Sam Johnson, who poured in a season-high 41 points to go with 13 rebounds, as he led the visiting Bulldogs to a 74-62 Metro Suburban West boys basketball victory.
The game was much closer than the first meeting between the two clubs when Riverside Brookfield (22-3, 11-0) blew out the Green Wave by 36 points.
"We knew what we were up against," St. Edward coach PJ White said. "The kids played exceptionally well considering how much we were outsized. It was a special night for Nick. He is our captain and the glue that keeps us all together. He's a hard worker, a good student, and a fine young man. Very proud of him."
Duffy finished with 12 points.
"It's pretty cool, " Duffy said. "It was never really a goal of mine. I have just always tried to play consistently. My teammates do a great job of getting me the ball."
The Green Wave (21-5, 9-3) led 17-11 early in the first quarter before R-B started to turn it around. A 13-0 run in the second quarter gave the Bulldogs a 34-26 lead. Johnson converted three 3-point plays during the run.
"(St. Edward) is a good quick team and they came out in sync at the start," R-B coach Tom McCloskey said. "Fortunately Sam had a big night for us. I think the combination of our defense creating some opportunities and starting o get the ball inside got us going."
The 6-foot-7 Johnson shot 15-of-18 (83 percent) from the field and made 11-of-12 shots from the free throw line. It was his 16th triple-double of the season.
"This is a very tough place to play, so we knew we had to match their intensity," Johnson said. "We started off slow, but started taking advantage of our size. My teammates did a great job of feeding me the ball and I was really feeling it."
Kelvin Cortez-Harvey, who had a team-high 20 points, helped rally the Green Wave back to within 3 points early in the third quarter before the Bulldogs pulled away again with a 9-0 run to open a 55-43 advantage.