Short-handed St. Edward falls to QND
The odds of gaining a victory were long for short-handed St. Edward on Saturday.
The Green Wave took the court for a nonconference boys basketball game against visiting Quincy Notre Dame without leading scorer Josh Dix (leg contusion) and starting forward Jim Waclawik (illness). And second-leading scorer Riley Coleman played despite the flu.
The result was a 74-36 victory for the visiting Raiders, a fate St. Edward coach Keith Chuipek said was probably unavoidable even if his entire lineup had been available.
"I don't think it would have made any difference tonight," Chuipek said. "They're way better than us, they're more athletic and they just beat the heck out of us.
"Obviously, it would be nice to have Josh here, but we don't have Josh here so other kids have to step up and not turn the ball over 4 times in a row at the beginning of the second half unforced."
Quincy Notre Dame (17-6) held a 35-20 lead at halftime. Any hope of a second-half comeback by St. Edward (8-16) quickly fell by the wayside due to the aforementioned multiple miscues at the outset of the third quarter. The Raiders used those turnovers to spark a 22-point quarter while holding the Green Wave to 5 points. Notre Dame took a 57-25 into the final period.
Chuipek pulled his starters three minutes into the third quarter and never played them again.
"It was embarrassing," junior guard Nick Kerger said. "We didn't play too well. Coach told us at halftime to come out and try to cut the lead in half so we could make a game of it in the fourth quarter. But we came out flat. We had 4 turnovers in our first 4 possessions and he had seen enough of it."
Sophomore Mike Ellis started in place of Dix and led the Green Wave with 8 points to tie for the team high with senior Steve Martin, but such production was nowhere near enough to offset 18 points from Notre Dame junior Brandon Rakers and 13 points by senior Ryan Stuckman. Eleven Raiders cracked the scoring column.
"We had them overmatched, so we tried to work on all our stuff and prepare for (the playoffs) next week," Stuckman said.
Notre Dame jumped to a 21-7 lead after a quarter on the strength of four 3 pointers, 2 by Tyler Durst (10 points).
Chuipek said Dix is unlikely to suit up on Tuesday, when St. Edward hosts Driscoll.