St. Edward wins first regional crown since 2003
GENOA - In victory, the St. Edward boys basketball program came full circle on Friday night.
The Green Wave defeated Aurora Christian 59-51 to win the Class 2A Genoa-Kingston regional title, their first since the 2002-2003 season, when the program was coached by Kevin Dix.
The program fell into disarray in November of 2005, when all but two players walked out on Dix after he and a senior player had a very public, on-court dispute during a Thanksgiving tournament game.
The school was divided as the mutiny dragged on for a week. Upperclassmen sided with the players. Underclassmen, including then-freshman Josh Dix, Kevin's son, supported the coach.
Finding support from the previous St. Edward administration lacking, Dix eventually resigned and the season was lost.
Coach Keith Chuipek took over the following year and brought stability to the program, armed with sophomore starters Steve Martin, Riley Coleman and Josh Dix, the latter of whom opted to remain a student at St. Edward despite the controversy that enveloped his father.
Though the Green Wave struggled through the last three seasons with sub-.500 records, the team improved steadily as those three players and a supporting group of able role players matured against a top-notch schedule of Class 3A and 4A foes.
Before Friday night's contest with Aurora Christian, which was seeking its third consecutive regional title, the St. Edward players dedicated the game to coach Dix and to their friend and teammate, Josh Dix.
Martin then went out and scored 21 points, Coleman 16 and Dix 14 to restore basketball pride to the corner of Elm & Locust with the school's first regional title in six seasons.
"Coach Dix, the stuff that went down for him was unfair," Martin said. "We got one for him."
"We'll put that in the past now and start building on something new - a new regional championship," said Josh Dix, who tossed the ball in the air in celebration as the final seconds ticked off the clock. "It was important to me. I always wanted to take it upon myself to bring (the program) back up to (its former) status. Hopefully, we can keep winning from here."
St. Edward (12-18) advances to Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. Plano sectional semifinal against Rockford Lutheran, a 44-42 winner against Rockford Christian Life.
Aurora Christian (14-13) bolted to a 10-3 lead, spurred by 2 baskets apiece from seniors Travis Cleveland (16 points) and Eric Anderson (8 points).
St. Edward rallied from the 3-point arc, burying 8 of 14 attempts in the first half to take an 18-17 lead after a quarter and a 33-26 advantage at the half. Martin led the way, canning all 4 of his attempts from 3-point range to finish with 14 first-half points.
"They kept giving me open shots, so I kept shooting them," Martin said. "I didn't want to go home."
The Eagles trailed by 7 in the third quarter but rallied to within 39-37 when Jordan Roberts scored on an acrobatic baseline drive with 39 seconds left in the period.
However, the Wave responded with a 12-0 run to gain control. Dix closed the quarter with 2 free throws, Martin split a pair to open the fourth quarter and Dix sank his second 3-pointer of the game to establish a 45-37 lead with 7:12 to play.
St. Edward sank 24-of-32 free throws in the game, including 17 of 20 in the second half.
"We covered the three in the second half," Eagles coach Marc Davidson said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't cover the free-throw line. Rebounding and scoring in the paint, we did what we wanted to do. It was 3-point shooting in the first half and foul shooting in the second half that cost us."